An Unlikely Pair
by A Golden Rose6
Summary: With the return of Voldemort lots of kids did not return to school. 2 students from 6th year are picked as head boy and head girl. Will they work together or kill eachother? What happens when things turn out different then everyone expects
1. A Big Year

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Or any characters, thats all JKR.**

A/N: This is my first fic. and the first time im letting random people read my writing so please review. And dont be too mean if you hate it please&thank you :)

He woke up and had no idea what was going on. He groaned and rolled over, and got a whiff of…wait a minute was that blood?

Draco sat up and tried to remember what was going on. He looked down at himself and realized that he was covered in blood but he couldn't remember how it had happened or if he was wounded. He looked around the room and that's when he saw her. The past year flooded in at such a speed that he almost lost consciousness. He got up as quickly as he could and raced to Hermione's side. She had to be ok. There was no way that after everything they had been through that she wouldn't be ok. She was too still, he didn't like it his heart started pounding and he gently shook her.

"…Hermione?" He said softly, scared that she would not wake up.

ONE YEAR EARLIER

It was the start of their sixth year at Hogwarts and there was a buzz in the air. Everyone seemed nervous, and rightfully so, the wizarding world now knew that Voldemort was back.

Hermione, Ron, and Harry were sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts express, Ron and Harry talking about quidditch, trying to keep things as normal as possible, while Hermione was pretending to be lost in a book. In reality Hermione's mind was racing, she was worrying about Harry and how the death of Sirius was affecting him. Not to mention that they had Voldemort making his public appearance to worry about.

Hermione's thoughts were interrupted by the compartment door opening. Neville and Ginny walked in to join them. The second Ginny walked in Hermione watched her immediately look to see where Harry was and watched as her face fell because Harry was at the window and Ron was next to him. Hermione decided that if she got up that Ginny could sit across from Harry and she wanted to make both her friend's happy. She knew that Harry was starting to feel the same way about Ginny, if the looks she caught him giving her over the summer was any indication. Hermione and Ginny had become quite close over the summer and Hermione knew how Ginny felt.

"I'm going to go use the toilet." Hermione said getting up and giving Ginny a knowing look.

Hermione was walking out of the lavatory when she bumped into someone.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention," She said politely before looking up.

"Granger," the voice replied, disdain dripping off the slow drawl, "of course you weren't, too busy thinking about books were you? You should watch where I'm walking next time, that way we can prevent this from happening again. I'm going to have to burn these robes to get the filthy mudblood germs off of them."

"Ah, Malfoy, good to see you too," Hermione said sarcastically trying to get out of the way and away from the insufferable arse she was now being forced to talk to.

Malfoy, seeing what she was trying to do, stepped in front of her blocking her path forcing her to stay where she was. "In a hurry are we? What's the matter? Potty and Weaslebee waiting for you? I'm surprised you're not with them, didn't think they could last 5 seconds without you."

"And I'm surprised you're goons aren't with you, can Draco Malfoy actually do things by himself?" She put on a sarcastic shocked face, "who knew? Are you sure you can go in the bathroom by yourself? Crabbe and Goyle aren't here to wipe your ass."

With that comment she side stepped him and continued walking back to her compartment, leaving a very indignant Draco Malfoy in her wake.

Hermione opened the compartment door feeling agitated, like she usually did after Malfoy encounters.

"I just had a run in with the ferret." She said to the group which now included Harry, Ron, Neville, Ginny, Luna and surprisingly Lavender Brown.

"What did he say? Are you alright Hermione? I'll hex him the next time I see him." Ron said, getting slightly redder in the face with each question.

"I'm fine Ronald, you need to relax. I'm a big girl I can handle him." Hermione said getting slightly angry that he thought she needed him to come to her defense. Hermione Granger was certainly capable to handle herself. She was no longer the second year little girl who had never been called mudblood before. Draco Malfoy paled in comparison to a basilisk, breaking a man out of wrongful imprisonment, or fighting Death Eaters.

"We'll be arriving at Hogwarts soon." Luna said in her dreamy voice, breaking the slight tension there was in the room.

"This is going to be a big year isn't it?" Harry said quietly almost more to himself to any particular person in the room.

"Yes I think it is." Ginny replied just as quietly.


	2. New Heads

**Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, places, nonnneee of it. Just the plot. JK Rowling owns the rest.**

A/N: Soo here's chapter two. Sorry the last chapter was so short this one's a bit longer. Read and Review please…so that I at least know that someone's reading…thanks :)

Walking into the great hall, a feeling of safety washed over everyone. It felt like home. Nothing could touch them while they were at Hogwarts, not with Dumbledore, McGonagall and all the other professors here. And there were centuries of magic inside the walls of the castle itself. As proof of the fact that Voldemort was really back, the room looked almost empty. A lot of parents, it seemed, didn't want their children to go to school this year. There were almost no 7th year students. Had people already started going into hiding? It wouldn't be surprising especially because of what happened last time Voldemort was around, but still, did people have no faith?

The feeling at the Gryffindor table was much different than the feeling of the Slytherin table. Where the Gryffindor table was edgy, the Slytherin's almost had an air of dread. But no this couldn't be because the dark lord had returned, they should be ecstatic. But the truth was being the son or daughter of a Death Eater was not a glorious life, and quite honestly Voldemort was frightening. But they Slytherins being Slytherins would never let anyone know that. Very few had true friends who they could talk to, so most didn't even share with the people going through the same thing as them. Luckily for Draco he had three true friends, Theodore Nott, Blaise Zabini, and Pansy Parkinson. Sure Crabbe and Goyle were always with Draco but they could not match his wit or smarts at all. They were almost like hired muscle. Malfoy being the Slytherin prince, gave Crabbe and Goyle recognition, they were known and feared because of Malfoy and that was payment enough for them.

"I can't believe how many people didn't come back to school this year," Theo said, "has the whole world gone mad? This is the safest place for anyone to be. The dark lord is only scared of one man and that one man is head of this school."

"Theo," Draco said cautioning him, it was fine for them to talk about it, just not here. Not where there were so many ears. They were supposed to be Death Eaters in the making. They were not supposed to discuss the dark lord and what he was afraid of in public. Mostly because there were many loyal young Death Eaters that would like any piece of information to boost themselves up in the ranks of Voldemort's army. Like say a traitor Malfoy and Nott who thought they needed to be protected from him and thought that he was afraid of Albus Dumbledore. The dark lord would just love to make an example out of them.

"Sorry Draco, momentary lapse in judgment."

"Happens to all of us mate." Draco replied.

"Is that Hermione Granger?" Blaise spoke up for the first time

Draco followed Blaise's line of vision and saw that he was indeed looking at Granger. "Of course that's Granger, why do you sound so surprised?"

"Because she got hot." Blaise stated like this was obvious. "Come on Drake don't tell me you didn't notice. Why didn't you mention it after you told us about the run in on the train?"

"Because I don't think she got hot. She's _Hermione Granger._" Draco said as if this should be obvious. "She's 1/3 of the golden trio and a mudblood. Have you forgotten that?"

"Of course I haven't forgotten. But we are still men and she is now a fine specimen of woman. She filled out quite nicely over the summer." Blaise said with a very Slytherin smile.

"Don't even think about it!" Draco said loudly. For some reason he did not like the idea of Blaise getting with Granger. It's not like Draco was attracted to her or anything. No of course not it's just that, in a twisted way, Malfoy thought Hermione was his. She was his to torment and torture. He couldn't have one of his best mates shagging her. And he knew from the smile on Blaise's face that that was exactly what his friend was thinking about.

"Drake you ok?" Theo asked, "you have this weird look on your face. Almost like…well quite honestly it's a possessive kind of look."

Draco snapped out of his thought quickly. "Possessive about what?" He said very defensively. "Certainly not Granger, I couldn't give a shit less about that filthy little mudblood."

Dumbledore stood up to the podium and a hush went through the entire great hall. Dumbledore looked around the room and then began his beginning of the year speech.

"Welcome to new and old students! I'm so glad to see new faces." He said glancing at the first years, "and very glad to see old ones," it seemed as though he was looking specifically at the Slytherin table, "we have some rules to go over and then we have a very big announcement. Rule number one the forbidden forest is just that. Curfew will be at 7:00 on week nights and 9:00 on weekends for first through 4th years. Curfew for fifth through 7th years will be 8:00 on week nights and 11:00 on weekends. Anyone caught outside of their common room after these times will be punished by their heads of house. As for the big announcement," Dumbledore paused, "Many of you know lord Voldemort has returned and as such many parents have decided to keep their children home. That brings us to the matter of head boy and head girl. Since not many 7th years returned this year, the heads of house and myself decided that the two best students in the school should be head boy and head girl. This is unprecedented you see because the two top students are both 6th years. But all of us agree that they are the best choice for this job so without further ado I give you Miss Granger, you new head girl…"

The room erupted with cheers not only from the Gryffindor table but from Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw as well. Hermione was not expecting this at all and was so completely thrilled that she got to be head girl a year earlier than she expected. And of course she expected to be head girl, the whole school did. She stood up laughing and looked around the room bowing slightly at all the applause. She was anxious wondering who head boy would be when Dumbledore cleared his throat. Hermione said back down with the biggest smile on her face.

"Our head boy this year is going to be Draco Malfoy!" Dumbledore said genuinely excited. When it was first discovered who the two heads would be a lot of the faculty argued that these two together could not be the heads. They would kill each other. Dumbledore knew that this would not happen, he even had hopes that maybe Miss Granger would be able to influence Mr. Malfoy to not become the Death Eater he was destined to be. After all if anyone could prove that muggleborns were not inferior to purebloods, it was her.

The Slytherin table was the only one who erupted into cheers for Draco, but he didn't care he was in shock. He was going to head boy and yes of course that was what he wanted. Yet another position of power for him, but to have to share it with _her _that just wasn't fair.

"Let the feast begin!" Dumbledore said and with a wave of his hand food started to fill the tables.

Draco, still in shock, looked over to the Gryffindor table and was surprised to see chocolate eyes meeting his silver gaze. They had a moment of, well almost mutual understanding. Looking into each other's eyes they both realized that they both wanted this more than anything and neither was thrilled that they had to do it with each other. At the same time they nodded their heads in respect for one another and looked away.

"I just can't believe it! How could they pair you up with that slimy git!" Ron was very angry that Hermione had to share the head position with Malfoy, "What is Dumbledore thinking? Teaming you up with that wannabe Death Eater. It's just not right."

After sharing that look with Malfoy Hermione was feeling just a little bit better about being paired up with him, it was in no way going to be easy but with the look of mutual understanding still fresh in her mind, it didn't seem like such a nightmare. "It will be fine Ron." Hermione was trying not to think of the fact that she would have to share a common room with Malfoy. The heads had their own living quarters somewhere in the castle, two rooms and a common room hidden somewhere, and it was going to be her new room. And she was not excited to bring it up. She knew that Ron and Harry didn't know this fact yet.

McGonagall was walking over to where Hermione was sitting and anticipation was turning in Hermione's stomach. She was just hoping that McGonagall would not bring up the sleeping arrangements just yet. She needed to be the one to tell Harry and Ron later, much later, and in the Gryffindor common room. She didn't want a scene to start right here in the middle of the feast. Apparently luck was on Hermione's side tonight because McGonagall just asked her to remain behind after the feast.

"Why do you think she wants you to stay behind?" Ron asked while stuffing his mouth with as much food he could fit into it.

"Honestly Ronald!" Ginny exclaimed. "I know our mother taught you manners! Why don't you try using them?"

Hermione, noting that Ron was indeed not using his manners but then again he never really did, sighed," Obviously she wants to talk to me about being head girl Ron. And Ginny's right, not only is it bad manners to talk with your mouth full, it's disgusting."

Hermione looked around the room and saw that the feast was almost over. She was a mix of emotions, partly relived because soon she was going to be able to talk with the professors about being head girl, partly anxious because well Malfoy just made her anxious. She was also excited. She was going to have her own common room, sure she would have to share it with Malfoy but she was trying not to focus on that aspect of it, she was also excited because well, she was going to be _head girl._

There was almost no one left in the great hall so Hermione said goodbye to Ron and Harry and headed up towards the back of the Great Hall where all the faculty sits. She was surprised to see that Professor McGonagall and Professor Dumbledore where the only ones left there. Draco arrived a few moments after she did.

"There is something you should both know before you decide if you want this position or not." Professor McGonagall said looking slightly like she didn't want to be the one to tell them this news.

Hermione knew that it was about them having to live together. She was lucky that she knew this beforehand otherwise she had no idea how she would have reacted to that. Unfortunately for Draco, he had no idea that they would be living together if they both decided that they wanted to be heads.

"Well…" Draco said, "get on with it already."

"Head boy and head girl, well, they share a dormitory."

"**WHAT**?" Draco shouted, it was echoing around them as they waited for him to absorb this information.


	3. Living Together

A/N: Thanks 1000things2love :) I really appreciate the review! And I agree Theo is one of my favorites.

Here's chapter three…let me know what you think. The next chapter is going to be a good one too so continue reading and reviewing and I'll keep writing. As best I can anyway

They all stood in the great hall as the word Draco had yelled echoed around them. No one knew what to say or how to approach Draco about the matter.

"You don't need to accept the job Mr. Malfoy, "McGonagall tried explaining, "but it is a requirement that the heads share a dormitory. You are more than welcome to decline the position."

The look of understanding for earlier completely forgotten Draco said, "You mean to tell me that not only do I have to patrol, have meetings with and make schedules with Granger but I also have to share a room with her? Have you all gone mad? Do you think we will be able to do this without killing one another?"

"I have faith that you won't. I believe that there are not two better suited for this job." Dumbledore said with complete certainty.

"Well then let's just move on. I'm not resigning and we all know little miss know-it-all would rather die than give up the chance to be head girl." Draco said begrudgingly

Both McGonagall and Hermione were surprised that he had dropped the subject so quickly but decided it was best not to question it. Dumbledore however, did not seem surprised at all, he just smiled his knowing smile and told Professor McGonagall to show them to their new room.

Little did they know that Draco had not accepted it as gracefully as they thought, he was after all a Slytherin. He just needed time to come up with a plan to get the book worm to quit.

The three of took twists and turns throughout the castle. The heads room was supposed to be hidden from the rest of the castle apparently. They walked down a practically abandoned corridor, it was a dead end. Professor McGonagall walked up to the wall and stopped.

"Your password is unity. The wall is voice activated. You both must speak the password together and the wall will remember your voices. Only the two of you are allowed into the dormitory. If you wish to spend time with your friends then it needs to be in their house common room."

"Are you bloody serious?" Malfoy said with his trade-marked scowl in place," we have our own room and we can't even have guests in it?"

"Mr. Malfoy, you need to watch your language and yes, that is exactly what I am saying."

"You know this position is starting to become less and less appealing to me."

"Well as I told you earlier, you do not need to accept the position. I'll be leaving now, assuming there are no more questions."

"Thank you Professor." Hermione said.

The professor left them then, walking back down the corridor, leaving the two students by themselves. Hermione looked over at Malfoy and saw that he was still scowling.

"Well should we get this over then?" Hermione asked.

"On the count of three then. One. Two. Three.."

They both said unity at the same time and the wall began to shimmer. It looked like they were just supposed to walk right through it. Malfoy gave the wall a skeptical look.

"Ladies first." He said with a sweep of his arm to the wall.

"Oh please like all of a sudden you're a gentleman?"

"I've always been a gentleman Granger. You just wouldn't know it because I am only one to ladies. And you are no lady therefore you've never gotten a chance to witness the infamous Malfoy charm." He said with the Malfoy smirk firmly in place.

"Malfoy charm my ass. You are about as charming as a dragon." She said taking a step closer to him

"Just walk through the damn wall Granger. I've had enough of your presence for one day."

"If you're so fed up with me why don't you walk through the wall?"

"Fine."

"Fine. Well go on, aren't you going to go?"

With everything they said they had taken a step closer to each other, they were now in each other's faces both looking very angry. Malfoy sudden looked at her, like really looked at her, maybe even for the first time ever. She was pretty hot, Blaise was right. As soon as he thought that he jerked himself away and walked through the wall, hoping that if he fled her he could flee the thoughts he was just having.

Entering the room he looked around. It was a beautiful common room. There was a green couch and a red chair. There were two desks in the room and a large bookcase in between them with many different subject books. To the very left of the room there was a kitchen area, a small table with two chairs a sink with counter space and a fridge. All the way to the back of the room there were three doors, the one on the left was green with DM in silver letters, the middle door was the one bathroom the room had, the door all the way to the right was red with gold letters that said HG. Draco was too busy taking in his surrounding that he didn't even notice Hermione walk into the room. She was standing beside him also surveying the room.

"Wow, it's really nice in here. I never noticed how good our house colors look together." She said.

He started a little at her words completely forgetting for the moment that this was _their_ room. "Whatever Granger. I'm going to sleep." He said as he stocked off to his room.

Hermione woke up the next day excited, as she usually felt on this day, it being the first day of school and all. She got up and got her things together to go take a shower. She left her room on a mission to the bathroom, when she got there the door was closed and the shower was running. That's when she remembered the full gravity of her situation. She was living with Draco Malfoy, and was going to be running later than she would like to be because of him. Suddenly the bathroom door opened and Draco was standing in the doorway wearing only a towel. And he looked…beautiful, he may have gotten his seeker position from his father in his second year but he stayed on the team by working out. He had a beautiful seeker built body with lean muscle and a sculpted stomach. Hermione could not help but check him out. When her eyes finally made it up to his he had that damn smirk on his face.

"Like what you see Granger?" He said, smirk firmly in place.

Hermione turned a deep shade of red and for once could not think of a witty retort. So instead she shoved passed him into the bathroom and closed the door, locking it behind her. She leaned again the door for a moment trying to figure out exactly what had just happened.

_You were checking out Draco Malfoy that's what happened_

_NO! I was not_

_You totally were._

Hermione's internal debate continued all throughout her shower. She realized that she had been checking him out. But honestly who wouldn't, he was attractive. If he didn't open his mouth that it. She had always thought he was cute, when he wasn't calling her a mudblood or looking at her with disgust. Ugh, what have I gotten myself into, she thought. She admitted that he was attractive that's all, the end. She came to terms with it and moved on, after all it was the first day of school. She smiled for the first time since she woke up, finished getting ready and headed down to the great hall to meet with Harry and Ron.

_What the hell happened this morning?_

It was now midday and Draco still couldn't figure it out, it also didn't help that _she_ was in almost every single one of his classes. Had Granger really been checking him out? And why did it matter so much if she had been. It didn't he decided. If anything that was just another thing to torment her about, he could use it against her that she found him attractive.

_But did she?_

Ugh he kept going in circles in his head. He was spending way too much time thinking about it.

"Hello Draco?" Pansy was yelling.

"What?" He said finally coming out of his thoughts.

"What's wrong? You've been spaced out all day. Are you ok?" There was true concern on Pansy's face.

What most people didn't know about Pansy was that she was a true friend. The front that she showed the world was not the person she really was, as it was with most people. When Pansy cared about someone it was not fickle or half-heartedly. Pansy and Draco had been friends since they were babies, she knew him better than most. Her and Theo could read Draco even when he masked his emotions. Most people thought that Pansy wanted Draco, but they both knew it wasn't true. She acted like his girlfriend, and at one point was, but it was just that they were so very close. Neither one had a romantic interest with the other but the students of Hogwarts never really looked beyond what was in front of them.

"Relax Pans, I'm fine." I just had a really confusing morning with Hermione Granger, you know the girl that I'm supposed to hate.

_Wait a minute…__**supposed**__ to?_

Of course Pansy and Theo were watching him, they could see that he was lying and that he was having more troubling thoughts right in front of them.

"You haven't been…summoned? Or anything like that right?"

Most people didn't know that Pansy and Theo were dreading that day, they day they would be asked to become true Death Eaters. Sure it was easy to pretend in school that they thought blood purity was the most important thing in the world, but it was not truly how they felt. Draco had yet to decide what he really thought about all of it. Given his upbringing and Malfoys, even among purebloods, were superior it was hard for him to really know how he felt. They all knew that even if they felt this way it was inevitable that they would become fully fledged Death Eaters. It was that or death, and being that they were only 16 they chose life.

"No, of course not. You both know that you would be the first people I tell when that happens."

"Ok, I was just checking love. As long as it's not that I won't pressure you. But you know if you want to talk about it, we're here for you." She said with a small smile.

"I know Pans." He said.

Though the conversation had distracted him from Hermione he was now thinking deeply about what would happen when he was summoned. With his father in Azkaban it would most likely be this year that it happened. The Dark Lord would want to have at least one Malfoy in his ranks outside of the walls of that prison. Draco started to feel a knot of dread forming in his stomach.

The end of the day came faster than Draco expected, unfortunately he had a lot more homework than he wanted. He also had to start on his head boy duties. He walked up to the wall to his room and said the password, walking through the wall. Hermione was already in their room, sitting at the desk closes to the door. She looked up for a brief moment and then went back to her work.

He really didn't know what to do considering he was still confused about this morning, instead of dwelling on it more though he just sat at the unoccupied desk and started his own work. There were a few moments of tense silence, but then the more comfortable with each other's presence they got the less tense it became. It even at one point turned into…comfortable silence?


	4. Accidental Rescue

_A/N: This chapter has slight violence in it. Nothing to graphic, just a warning, please review. I'm not sure how long it will take for me to write the next chapter, I'm not feeling to motivated that there are a lot of people reading….so please just review. And be nice if you hate it. Here you go, Chapter 4._

They had fallen into a routine, every day after school they would sit at their respective desks and work. The comfortable silence continued. And a few times they wounded their pride and would ask the other for help if they needed it. Hermione was surprised to find that Draco was actually quite smart. It wasn't a fluke that he was head boy. He was almost as smart as her which was hard to come by. They would patrol the halls together on Tuesday and Friday nights together. There was also a comfortable silence between them then. Out in the halls if they came across each other Draco was his old sneering self but in these walls, there was no audience. And Hermione was starting to realize that that was all it was, a performance. She did not really know Draco Malfoy as well as she thought she did. Unfortunately she really didn't get to share this revelation with anyone. None of her friends would understand and they would think that she had gone mad. They were by no means friends, but they both realized their situation would be easier if they were civil, so they both tried to be. They got into little fights and arguments but that was because they both had a stubborn nature to them.

"Hey…Granger?"

"Hmmm…" She said slowly looking up from the paper she was working on.

"I'm not feeling too well tonight, do you think you can go to the prefect meeting without me?"

She really looked up at him. He was looking really paler, much paler than usual. She was feeling slightly concerned. Not that she would ever admit it. The time they spent together was really doing weird things to her head lately.

"Yes, that's fine. Would you like for me to go get Madam Pomfrey for you?"

"No, I think I should just go lay down for a bit."

"Alright…if you're sure…"

"I'm sure, you should probably go get going anyways. Don't want to be late."

"Ok." She said packing up her things to head out.

It was always so surreal having a normal conversation with him, one without insults, taunts, or punches to the face. She was slowly getting used to it though. It had been just about two months since school started and ever since the first day when he sat down at the desk this is how things had been.

The meeting progressed uneventfully. Luckily Draco had finished his work and all she had to do was assign what needed to be done. On her walk back to the dorm she decided that she should go to Gryffindor tower. It had been too long since she hung out with Harry and Ron and she missed them.

"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed his face brightening from seeing her here in the tower. "It's so good to see you. We've missed you." He pulled her into a big bear hug holding her tight for a moment.

"I've missed you both as well." She said with a huge smile on her face walking over to Ron and giving him a hug.

"So how are things going with Malfoy?" Ron asked, looking a little concerned.

"Surprisingly well. Much better than either of us expected I think." She said, she wanted to be honest with her friends, whether they believed her or not.

"Oh so is that why you haven't been coming around?" There was an edge of possessiveness to his voice.

"Of course not. I've just been really busy with all of my studies and duties Ronald." Hermione said getting slightly angry. He had no right to feel possessive of her. They had never even been on a date! Not that she didn't want to. Well that had started to become unclear to her lately. She thought that she had loved Ron since the end of second year, but now she wasn't so sure. He always got angry far too quickly, he didn't have any manners and well she just was starting to think that maybe she only had a crush on him for years and those feelings were slowly fading away. He had never showed her that he had any interest in her that way. She was starting to feel like they had missed their chance to be something more.

"Oh, yea, I'm sorry Mione, of course." He said, blushing slightly about his outburst.

"So everything with Malfoy has been good?" Harry asked, making sure that she didn't need his help with knocking that ferret into line.

"Yea Harry, he's actually quite civil when it's just me and him."

"Pft" Ron scoffed, "I don't believe that for a second, this is _Malfoy_ Hermione. The bloody wanker who's tormented you since day one."

At this point Hermione was about to lose it. Ron was about as insensitive as they come sometimes. The way Hermione took his comment was that one, he was insulting her intelligence, like she wasn't smart enough to know just exactly who she was talking about and two, that he did not trust her judgment. Which was just stupid, Hermione was a pretty good judge of character. And living with someone makes you see them through different eyes. They are not pretending when they are at home, they are more likely to let the walls down when they are home. She was fuming mad by the time Ron had finished that last statement and Harry could tell that she was about to explode. He kicked Ron, but Ron was not one to really pick up on emotions.

"Ow! What the hell was that for? All I said was that she can't be right."

"Oh no of course not Ronald. How could I possibly be right when I'm the one who lives with him? Of course you are right because you are all knowing." Hermione said with angry sarcasm dripping off of every word. "You are a complete idiot Ronald Weasly."

Hermione got up and stormed out of the Gryffindor tower. She was so angry that she didn't notice that two people were following her until it was too late.

Draco was pacing in the common room and looked up at the clock for the 5th time. Granger should have been back 2 hours ago. He couldn't help but feel like something wasn't right. Malfoys were taught to always trust the judgment so he decided that maybe a stroll around the castle wouldn't hurt. He was walking around, trying to go to places he knew were mostly abandoned when he heard it. It was not something that people expected to hear, especially given what she was saying. It sounded as though someone was holding her captive. It would have been more appropriate for there to be a pleading voice, or crying given that it was clear that she was not there by choice. But no, of course not, this was Granger after all. She just sounded plain pissed off. He rounded the corner to see something sickening. Crabbe and Goyle had Hermione pinned up against a wall. He robes were ripped open.

"If you do not unhand me right now, I promise I will make it so you wish you'd never been born." She said in a dead calm voice.

Draco was even slightly frightened by it, but then again Draco had a brain, these two did not. He was studying Granger making sure she was ok, and had it not been for the past two months he wouldn't have noticed her shaking hands. So she was scared after all, good that means she had some sense. This was not a joke at all.

"Oh I like her," Crabbe said, caressing the left side of Hermione's face with the back of his hand, he leaned in and whispered in her ear, "I'm going to enjoy breaking you." He had an evil smile on his face as he pulled away.

As soon as Draco saw that smile he knew it was time to intervene. Trying to contain the murderous rage that was building inside of him Draco walked further into the corridor.

"What's going on here?" Draco was so well at masking his emotions that no one could hear the under current tone in his voice. It sounded as though he always walked up into this sort of thing. All three people looked at him but his eyes were glued to Hermione. He thought he saw relief flash through her eyes but he couldn't be sure.

"Oi Draco!" Goyle seemed happy to see him. "Me and Crabbe were just walking when all of a sudden this pretty little mudblood came out of Gryffindor tower. We decided that we were going to have some fun." He finished with a stupid grin on his face.

"You do realize that 'pretty little mudblood' is head girl don't you?" Draco said still pretending to be completely calm.

"So what?" Crabbe said, he sensed that he would not have the "fun" he wanted to tonight and was getting defensive. He was so excited when Granger walked out of the tower alone.

"So you will be in deep shit if you don't stop." Draco said looking them both in the eyes, "I suggest that you take off before Granger decides to report you."

"You threatening us Draco?" Crabbe said with a glint in his eyes.

"Of course I'm not." He said scoffing, "I'm only looking out for your best interest."

Goyle seemed to take the hint better than Crabbe did. He grabbed his friend off of Hermione and turned back towards Draco.

"Thanks mate." Goyle said before dragging his friend back down the corridor. Draco waited till he knew they were gone and then looked back at Hermione. She had collapsed to the ground and her shoulders were shaking, she was clearly crying. Apparently her brave bravado had gone with Crabbe and Goyle. He walked up to her slowly.

"Granger," He said softly. Never before had he spoken to her with this tone in his voice. He was nervous if he was going to be honest with himself. He had never had to deal with a situation like this before.

She looked up at him with a tear streaked face. "Will you… will you help me back to the common room?"

It sounded like she was having trouble speaking. Draco could not even imagine how she was feeling right now. Instead he just nodded and got even closer to her. He held out his hand for her to take and she didn't even hesitate. He cupped his hand under her elbow and walked her back to their common room. By the time they walked through the wall she was shaking violently. Draco sat her on the couch and got her a blanket and wrapped it around her. She was staring off with silent tears still streaming down her face. He did not know what to do so he got up and made them each a cup of hot cocoa. He placed hers in her hands and looked into her eyes. They looked vacant and he was scared. This was Hermione. She was quick witted and very smart. Also she was a Gryffindor with a bleeding heart and wore her emotions on her face. The fact that there were none present was troubling. He sat down next to her on the couch unsure of what to do next. She turned to face him and looked him right in the eye.

"They were going to rape me." She said softly, as if she could not believe it.

"But they didn't." Was all he could say to her.

Finally the mask broke. Her face showed, terror and anguish. Without consciously choosing to do so she leaning into Draco and let out a body wracking sob, and tightly gripped the front of his shirt. Draco had no idea what to do in this situation, so he thought what if it was Pansy? And instantly his arms went around her, he started to rub her back. He knew that she was not Pansy but by putting it into perspective like that he knew exactly what he had to do. This girl had almost been raped. She needed comfort and he was the only one there to give it to her. He would want someone to do this for Pansy if he wasn't there to give it to her. She was the only other woman he cared about other than his mother. Regardless that Hermione was not a pureblood she was a woman. And no woman should be raped. Draco was disgusted with people who thought that such actions were ok. He had too much respect for woman to condone such an act.

Hermione's sobs were starting to subside and she pulled away from Draco. For a moment he was sad for the loss of contact but quickly shook the thought out of his head. She was still Granger for crying out loud.

"Do you want me to walk you to your door?" He said in the same soft tone he had been using with her all night. She looked much better after her cry though, almost stronger somehow.

He walked her over to her door. She stopped and turned around to look at him.

She leaned up and planted a kiss on his cheek, "Thank you." She said gratitude very evident in her eyes.

Draco didn't even think, his right hand rose to her cheek and his wiped away the tears there and gave her a firm kiss right on the lips. "You're welcome." He said looking into her eyes to see her surprise.

He turned around and went into his room, leaving Hermione in front of her door just standing there.


	5. Back to the Way Things Were

_**A/N: Slytheringrrl1 yes I am going to finish lol I just want to know if people are reading!**_

_**So please read&review!**_

Draco woke up the next morning and last night quickly flashed through his head. Why had he kissed her? Clearly he was very emotional, not for her, for Crabbe and Goyle. Those idiots thought it was ok to try to rape women? And she was head girl no less, but she was fine and because of his relief he kissed her, that was all. Living with her was starting to really mess with his head, he was thinking of her far more than he should have been. Not to mention that he was sad last night when she had pulled away from him. He hadn't been laid in months, that was the problem. He just needed some female contact. So that would be his mission today, Astoria made it quite clear that she was interested in him so he would just have to take her up on her offer. Come to think of it he didn't understand why he hadn't taken her up on her offer yet.

_Because you've been spending all your free time with Hermione._

_**HERMIONE?**_

He shook his head. He would not think of her, as Hermione or otherwise. That kiss was a mistake and it would never happen again, it didn't matter how much he had come to enjoy spending time with her. He would have to start treating her the way he had before. He had to admit that he was slightly worried about how she would be dealing with last night but figured he could leave that to the-boy-who-couldn't-die and the weasel. They were her friends after all, it should be their job. He decided to skip the shower hoping he wouldn't run into the subject of his thoughts as he practically snuck out of the common room.

Hermione was feeling slightly jumpy and paranoid today, but that was only normal she told herself. She had gone through quite the ordeal last night. She was so thankful for Draco but she had not seen him this morning to thank him again. The kiss had been so unexpected she hadn't even had time to react to it. More than that though she still didn't know what she would have done if she did react.

_You would have kissed him back._

Yes, she wasn't even going to argue with herself about that. She had admitted she was attracted to him, she even like spending time with him. To top all of it off he had saved her last night. She had no idea how he found them but that didn't matter. He also held her when she needed it most, she would never be able to tell him what that meant to her. There were no words to describe it. Her view of him had now completely changed. She knew him and deep down he was a good person with a good heart. He could say whatever he liked about what happened that night but she saw the slight fear for her in his eyes when he found them all in the hallway. He had also been so sweet and caring. But enough thinking about him, she needed to get to Ron and Harry. She needed to feel safe, like she had with Draco last night. Walking into the great hall Hermione scanned the crowd for Harry and Ron. She found them in their usual spot and almost ran to them.

Ron looked up and immediately looked apologetic, "I'm so sorry about last night."

Hermione had forgotten about the fight with Ron, "Don't worry about it Ron, there's something that I need to tell you two about, something that happened last night. But you have to promise me that you will not interrupt and you will listen to everything that I have to say."

Harry who was seated next to her said, "Of course Mione, are you alright?" He could tell that something was wrong. From when he first looked at her he could tell that there was something off about her.

She told them all about last night, how Crabbe and Goyle had come out of nowhere and how she had been rescued, she left out the kiss (there was no need to tell them about that). She looked over at Ron to see that he was glaring over at the Slytherin table. He started to get up when Hermione leaned across the table and pulled him back down.

"STOP IT!" She said.

"Hermione, I'm going to kill them. They cannot get away with something like that!" Ron said his voice slightly raised.

"Keep your voice down, and no you will not kill them. I want to forget that this has ever happened, I just…I just needed to tell my two best friends what happened. Besides that would get Draco into trouble, he almost reassured them that I wouldn't tell. So please, just drop it."

Harry could see how much this was upsetting her and thought that maybe she was right. He would respect her wishes and do as she said. While he was thinking this, Ron was stuck on something else.

"Oh _Draco_ would get into trouble would he? Tell us Mione, when exactly did he become Draco?" Ron looked so pissed off that Hermione would not be surprised if steam had started to come out of his ears.

"When he saved me." She knew that this was kind of a lie but thought it was best not to mention anything about her and Draco's odd relationship.

Ron grimaced at this but didn't say anything else. Harry put his arm around her and pulled her close.

"I'm so happy you're ok." He whispered into her ear.

Hermione was sort of hidden in Harry's embrace so she chanced a look at the Slytherin table. What she saw shocked her so much she couldn't understand what she was feeling.

Draco Malfoy was clearly flirting with Astoria Greengrass. Everyone could see it. She seemed very pleased that it appeared all her advances on Draco had paid off, he had finally taken a real notice in her.

_She really is quite pretty and a pureblood too._

Draco couldn't believe that he had never noticed how pretty she was before. Had he really been that distracted for two months? While flirting with Astoria Draco's mind was wondering. He couldn't help but look into her green eyes and compare them to chocolate eyes. It was infuriating him that even while he was here with a pureblood, a pretty pureblood at that, he couldn't stop thinking about the stupid mudblood.

_But you don't really think she's stupid anymore._

That stupid voice in the back of his head kept creeping up uninvited. It was really and truly starting to annoy him. He wanted to stop thinking about Granger, and he figured the best way to do that was to get on top of someone else.

Draco smiled his most charming smile, "Would you like to get together after class?"

Astoria blushed, "I would love to."

Hermione was walking toward potions when she saw Draco walking alone a little farther up. She picked up her pace, grabbed him by the arm and pulled him into a hidden alcove in the hallway.

He looked so surprised but when he turned around to face her something like panic quickly crossed and left his features.

"What do you want mublood?" He said sneering. He was going to keep his word to himself and treat her like he used to.

Hermione looked taken back by his tone and by his use of 'mudblood'. He had stopped calling her that, especially when it was just the two of them. "Draco…"Hermione said softly, "there's no one else around…"

He faltered slightly at the use of his given name. But he was a Malfoy, and Malfoys always proud, he would not break his vow to himself. "So what if no one else is around? I don't want to be near you, ever, so what do you _want_?"

Hermione was starting to get angry. He had no reason to treat her like this she hadn't done anything wrong. Besides that, she liked the truce that they had had over the past two months, and here he was ruining it, and over what, because he kissed _her_?

"I only wanted the chance to thank you again." She had cooled her anger to say that to him, he had saved her after all and she was still grateful. She still could not believe what had almost happened to her the night before.

"Please Granger," Malfoy said the sneer back on his face, "I most certainly did not do it for you. My friends would have gotten into a lot of trouble had they continued…what they were doing." Draco kept his face composed. It bothered him deeply to talk about rape like it was nothing.

"Then what exactly was that, when you were walking me to my door?"

Draco did not want to discuss the kiss. He had no idea that she was going to confront him about it this soon and he did not want to be confronted about it ever.

"It was nothing Granger."

"Ok Malfoy, keep telling yourself that."

Hermione went to walk away, but just before she left she turned around and said, "You've obviously given this nothing a lot of thought, especially if you're back to treating me like I'm something stuck at the bottom of your shoe."

She turned and walked away. Draco was in a kind of shock. How did she know that that was why he was treating her this way? Did she really know him that well? Then again what other reason would there be for him to go about treating her this way again. Draco realized what time it was and had to hurry so that he would not be late for potions.

A month passed and the Christmas holidays were soon approaching. It was the last day before everyone left to go home.

Things between Draco and Hermione were still uneasy. Draco was avoiding her as best he could, and it turned out that Astoria was a lot of fun, although he did tire of her eventually and had several conquests since. He was the Slytherin sex god after all. Their patrols and any other time they were together were always filled with tense silence. On a couple of occasions Draco found himself longing for the comfortable silence they had once had between them. Even after the many flings he had after he kissed Hermione he still found that she was often in his head. After he had found pleasure with a girl he would close his eyes and see her face, it was quite disturbing to him. But no matter, tomorrow he would leave here and go back home to the manor.

Hermione was in the Gryffindor common room spending time with Harry, Ron and Ginny. She would be going home for Christmas; everyone else was going to the Burrow.

"So Mione we've been thinking and Boxing Day you should come to the Burrow, spend the rest of holiday with us." Harry said smiling.

"That's a brilliant idea! I'd love to." Hermione looked at Ginny, "You're sure it's ok with your mum?"

"Of course it's ok with Mum." Ginny said rolling her eyes, "Mione you're just like another one of her kids."

"Great! So we will all just swap presents then?" Hermione said excited that she would be able to spend time with both her parents and her friends.

"Sounds good to me." Harry said.

It was late by the time Hermione got back to her own common room. She walked through the wall and was disappointed to see that Draco…_**Malfoy**_, she firmly corrected herself, was sitting on the couch reading a book. She quickly walked by him and into her room. She hated seeing him when she wasn't expecting to. It always…hurt. He was so cold to her nowadays and she missed them doing their homework together. She could not get the same kind of intellectual stimulating conversations from any of her friends. She sighed loudly and dropped down to her bed. It was going to be a long year if the way the treated each other remained the same.

Draco walked through the door of the manor feeling like he would finally be able to forget about Hermione. He would be away from her for long enough that by the time he got back to school he would no longer be bothered by her.

_That's just wishful thinking._

Draco was about ready to scream, that voice was driving him mad. The only thing that stopped him from screaming was that, at that moment, his mother walked into the room. Before she noticed him, Draco took a good look at her. His mother had always been beautiful but her face looked tired and stressed. It had to be hard for her, with Lucius gone. Draco was about to find out that his mother's worries were much greater than that.

Narcissa turned and saw Draco and her face lit up, once again returning to the beauty that she was.

"Draco!" She said walking quickly towards him and gathering him into an embrace.

"Hello mother." Draco said with a real smile on his face as well. He loved his mother, and was always happy when it was just the two of them and they could be like a mother and son are supposed to be. When Lucius was around they were not allowed to show emotion or embrace. He said that it was weak.

Narcissa leaned back and cupped Draco's cheek, "I'm so happy to see you dear." As soon as the words were out Narcissa's face fell.

"What is it mother?" Draco asked concerned.

She quickly schooled her features into a mask.

"You will be pleased to know that tonight, the Dark Lord is coming." She said not looking Draco in the eye, "He plans to give you the mark, so you will have the rest of the holiday to rest and get better."

Draco's world spun for a moment. He thought he was going to throw up.

"Tonight?" he said in barely a whisper.

Narcissa looked up, and for the first time realized that he son did not want to become a Death Eater. She had never wanted him to become one but Lucius was the head of the family and as such made decisions like this. He must have contacted the Dark Lord from inside of Azkaban and told him that Draco was ready. Narcissa was becoming very angry at her husband. How could he do this to their only child? Because he had fallen from grace, Draco was his chance to redeem himself in the eyes of the Dark Lord.

She saw fear in Draco's eye and pulled him into another embrace. She whispered, "I'm so sorry Draco, your father must have contacted him." She pulled away and Draco saw the tears in her eyes.

She quickly fled the room. Draco took a seat on the couch in the room and stared off.

"Tonight?" he whispered again, even though there was no one in the room.

Tonight, was going to be the night that Draco's fate was truly sealed and bound. He would become a Death Eater. He still did not know how he felt about it, other than he wished he had more time to decided. If the dread in his stomach was any indication then he would have to say he was not ready, did not think that this was really what he wanted. That did not matter though, not now, not ever. He had never had a choice, it was made for him long ago.


	6. Marked

_A/n: So I'm sorry about the delay but here is chapter 6._

_Michaelfanfic: No Portuguese is not my first language lol, I don't know why I wrote Oi I just kind of did haha and I'm sorry but I can't tell you that :( _

_Please Read&Review. You think the story's going too fast, too slow? Or if you love it or hate it. Thanks :)_

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry potter, it's characters or pretty much anything else.**

With the return of everyone to Hogwarts, there was excitement in the air. Everyone wanted to tell their friends how their holiday had gone, what they had gotten for Christmas and the gossip they had heard. It was as if the world had forgotten that Voldemort was back. As far as Hermione was concerned it was very stupid of them. She just hoped that they realized this was not going to go away.

Hermione was not one of the students who were excited to be back, if anything she was dreading it. This was a new experience for her, normally she would be the first person through the doors, but a certain blond haired snake was making her feel this way. Several times throughout the holiday Harry, Ron, Ginny or even Mrs. Weasly asked if she was ok. She just couldn't keep him off of her mind. She wanted to know how he would be acting towards her now that he had spent some time away. Though she had to wonder if it would be worse because of where home was to him.

Hermione sighed out loud as these thoughts plagued her yet again. Well there was really only one way to find out, she would just have to wait and see.

When Hermione finally arrived back to her room after the feast she was so busy that she didn't notice the person sitting on the couch. She practically tripped over Draco's feet and that's when she looked up and saw him.

He looked horrible. He was very pale and looked like he had lost weight, almost like he hadn't eaten since he left school. He was just staring off into nothing, he didn't even notice that she was there taking him in. That was very un-Malfoy like. He usually used any opportunity to tease her, even during their truce he had still done it. It had just been done with less malice.

She was really starting to worry so she sat down next to him. She called his name a couple of times but he didn't seem to notice. She decided to touch his arm and she called his name again.

He finally looked at her. He looked almost surprised to see her there, which worried her more because she had been there for a while.

"What is it?" He asked, his voice deadpan, as if he had no feelings.

"I've been calling your name for a while," Hermione said concern in her voice, "Are you ok Draco? Is there anything I can get for you?"

She knew that he had been rotten to her the last time she saw him but she couldn't help but feel concern. He had taken care of her after she had almost been raped and here he looked like something horrible had happened to him.

All he did was turn his head away from her, almost like he hadn't heard her at all. She decided that she would do for him what he did for her. She got up and wrapped a blanket around him and made him a cup of tea. She sat beside him and didn't say anything. She knew that if he wanted to talk to her he would start the conversation.

A moment later he did turn and look at her. There were questions in his eyes, "Granger, why are you being so nice to me? The last time I saw you I was horrible."

She was surprised he was being so straightforward about it. She noticed that there was still no emotion from him. She almost wished that the sneer was present, that would mean he felt something.

"Well if you must know, I had come to think of you as kind of a friend, and seeing you here, like this… I just think that you took care of me when I needed it and you look like you could use it."

He snorted after she said that. He replied, "Ah, of course, a bleeding Gryffindor to the core."

Now that the sneer was very much present in his voice Hermione wasn't so sure that she had missed it. It was still good to get some kind of a reaction from him though.

Hermione realized what was wrong. Draco was…well he looked broken. And seeing him like this, it actually hurt her. Her heart went out to him. It looked like he hadn't slept in weeks. She also smelled…wait a minute.

"Are you drunk?" She asked slightly appalled, he was obviously having some troubles but to drink them away? Hermione just couldn't agree with that.

"What does it matter? It's not as if my life is going somewhere wonderful." He slurred the last word horribly.

"What are you going on about? And whatever is going on I'm sure drinking isn't going to help it at all."

"Nothing can help it you silly girl." He said turning on the couch so he faced her completely. "It must be nice, having a choice in life. Hell, you even have the choice if you want to be a witch or not. I've never had a choice in life, not on one single thing. Well quidditch, I suppose that was my one choice. Pretty sad isn't it? And now, now I'm not even going to have a choice in that."

"Malfoy, you do know that I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about don't you?"

"Course not Granger. Bloody hell I don't even have a choice about you. If I did I certainly would not be thinking about you all the time. But no, you're always in here." He said pointing to his head.

Hermione sat so still after that comment she didn't know what to say. She didn't know if she should tell him that she thought about him all the time too, and that there was nothing she could do about it either.

"Even during the time I spent away, even after all I went through over my holiday you were the one constant, well that and the pain." He said grimacing. And then as if realizing what he just said he stood up abruptly.

He swayed a little on his feet and Hermione put her hands out as if to catch him. He quickly regained his balance and stormed off into his room. Hermione was so confused she had no idea where to start. Half of the things he said made no sense to her, the pain? What pain? Was Draco abused when he went home? She found that hard to believe especially with his father away but the again his mother was a Death Eater too and maybe she was abusive. She could not make sense about what he was saying and decided to think about the other things he had said. He couldn't stop thinking about her? She didn't know how to feel about this. Part of her wanted to be a giddy girl but other parts were slightly alarmed and confused. Besides she didn't know if he meant thinking about her in a good way or a bad way. The rational part of her mind was telling her it was in a good way.

_He did kiss you._

But having very little knowledge about boys Hermione didn't know if she could listen to the rational part of her. She heaved herself off of the couch and went into her room. It would be a long night before she found sleep.

Draco woke up the next morning with a killer headache. He could not remember even going to bed last night. It was obvious that he drank too much. His arm started to throb. If only he could drink enough to forget what had happened to him, what he was now. That was not possible, but how he wished it was. Every time he thought of the task he was supposed to do he felt the need to throw up. Thinking of it now, mixed with the fact that he had drank way too much last night he felt his stomach trying to expel its contents, he got up and ran to the bathroom.

The door was closed and he could hear the shower running, but he didn't care his stomach could not wait. He barged into the bathroom and quickly kneeled before the toilet just in time. He did not pay attention to anything else. He couldn't. His stomach was rebelling against him at an alarming rate. Everything was trying to come up faster than he could spit it out.

Hermione was extremely scared when the door first opened. Once she heard Draco starting to regurgitate she knew that it was just him and everything was ok. For a moment it had felt like she was back in the corridor with Crabbe and Goyle, but hearing Draco, even if it was him throwing up, made her feel safe. She quickly shut off the shower and wrapped a towel around herself. She stepped out of the shower and kneeled next to him. Rubbing his back in circles and pulling his hair back when it fell down into his face, she wondered if he even noticed that she was doing it.

Finally when Draco's gags started to slow down, he realized that Hermione was rubbing his back. Even if she wasn't the only possibility he would know it was her. All he could smell was her sent, a mix between vanilla and just _her_. He wiped his mouth and stood up. He quickly did a spell to clean his mouth and turned to face her.

He wasn't sure what he was going to say but even if he had been it would have left his mind. He turned to face her and found her in only a towel his brain temporarily short circuited. The look on her face also caused him to be unable to think. She was concerned, truly concerned for him.

It was a moment like before. He didn't think he just acted. He went up to her and captured her mouth with his. After that there was not much thinking going on, only feeling. He loved the feel of her lips, and after a moment she was responding whole-heartedly to the kiss too. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her tighter, a small moan escaping his lips when their hips made contact.

Hermione's mind had been reeling when he kissed her again but it hadn't taken very long for her to respond. She had been thinking about the other kiss too long to not participate in this one. When Draco moaned she couldn't help the shiver that went through her body. She was putting her arms around his neck when he pulled away.

Hermione looked up at him to see that his face was flushed and his breathing was uneven. She had the feeling that she looked just about the same, and could hear her own labored breathing. Looking into his cloudy gray eyes she could tell that he was not unmoved by the kiss either. She didn't think that he had ever looked more beautiful to her than he did in that moment.

Quickly, too quickly, the lust was gone from his eyes and in its place was panic. Hermione was disappointed, she was coming to terms with the fact that she found him attractive and that she liked kissing him, apparently he was not at the same place as her.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, then closed it, and opened it again. With one final shut he turned fast on his heels and left the bathroom. Hermione couldn't help but wonder if they would always be this way, one of them walking away with the other trying to deal with their emotions.

Draco took his regular seat at the table, what he really needed to do was talk to Theo. With everything so messed up he needed a friend, one that was on his side. He wouldn't talk to him about Hermione, there was no need to. After today he would never kiss her again, that kiss had just been to satisfy the curiosity he had had for a month now. Now that he knew what it was like to kiss her he would never have to do it again. But she had felt so nice in his arms, he hadn't wanted to stop. If he had not accidently rubbed his arm on her he didn't think he would have stopped. But he had, the pain in his arm brought back reality, a reality where he couldn't just kiss girls because he wanted to, especially not her.

Luckily Theo chose that moment to sit down. He took one look at Draco and he knew something was wrong, and he had an idea about what it was. Draco had not gone to the welcome back feast last night and Theo thought it was strange but not alarmingly so. Now looking at Draco he figured he knew why.

"Hey," Theo said.

Draco practically jumped. He was very deep in thought and Theo had startled him out of it. Draco just nodded.

Theo read the message in his eyes though, it said we need to talk, and he couldn't agree more.

"Should I get Pansy?" Theo asked.

"No, not yet, I don't want to talk to her yet."

Again Theo got that feeling in his gut, telling him that this was it, the worst had happened. "Well if you don't want her to know that anything is up I suggest that you get out of her before she comes. One look at you is all anyone needs to tell that something's up, so if Pansy were to see you," Theo grimaced at the thought, "I think she might have a heart attack."

Draco nodded, he understood this. Anyone could tell that there was something wrong. Pansy was one of the few who knew him well enough to know even if he looked like everything was fine. Draco stood up and was starting to walk away when he turned back and said, "Meet me outside of Potions?"

Theo just nodded. Draco walked out of the Great Hall and Theo watched him go. He wasn't sure he was going to be able to finish eating his breakfast now but he would still try. He had to look like everything was ok. He didn't need Pansy hounding him.

Hermione watched Draco walk out of the Great Hall, a feeling of regret in her stomach. She wished there was some way she could get through to him, that maybe she could get him to let down his walls. She knew that this was very unlikely. But the whole shocking thing was that she wanted to. She wanted to know him, laugh with him, even cry on him if she needed to. That made her feel worse, she was not supposed to feel this way about Draco Malfoy, she was supposed to feel hate, not longing. As hard as she tried she couldn't forget this morning. It had been amazing, and she wanted to be able to do it again. It had taken her a lot to finally be able to think that without cringing or thinking about what her friends would think. She, well, she was starting to _like_ Draco Malfoy.

Hermione sighed out loud just as Ginny was sitting down. Ginny looked over at her friend and again felt concerned. Hermione was very off lately and Ginny had noticed that a number of times over their holiday that Hermione would be staring off, deep in thought, and not be paying attention to anyone.

"Are you ok Mione?" Ginny asked.

"I'm sorry Gin," Hermione said blushing slightly,"I've just been rather off lately. Hopefully being back in school will snap me into shape."

Ginny just nodded. She decided that she need to keep a closer eye on her friend and make sure that she really was ok.

"So are you going to the Slug Club party?" Ginny asked.

"Oh I had totally forgotten about that. When is it supposed to be again?"

"It's not for another week."

"Well that's good." Hermione said.

She could not believe that she had completely forgotten about Slughorn's party. She didn't even have a date to go with. She sighed again. This was going to be a very long school year.

Theo met Draco right outside the potions class. They took a stroll a little bit farther along the corridor and went into an empty classroom. As soon as the door closed Theo really looked at Draco, he looked like shit.

"What's going on mate? I hadn't heard from you at all during holiday and now looking at you, well I would think that you died over holiday." Theo said

"I suppose that's one way of putting it." Draco said completely serious.

Before Theo could say anything about that remark Draco was pulling up his sleeve, Theo Froze looking at his friends arm with an expression of horror. There in the middle of Draco's arm was the huge ugly black mark that they dreaded. Theo felt like he was going to be sick. Draco was marked, most with the mark would say it was a mark of honor but Theo knew better. Draco was marked for death. On his best friends forearm was the Dark Mark. He was a Death Eater.


	7. Human

**A/N: So I'm real sorry it's taken me so long to put this up…but here you go chapter 7 read&reviewww :) ps thanks to everyone who added this story to favorites/alerts :D**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it obviously…**

Hermione was frustrated. Slughorn's party was coming up and she hadn't seen much of Draco in a week. She found herself going to their common room more and more hoping to get a chance to see him. But he was never there, she didn't even know if he still slept in there. She would go to bed and he would not be there and she would wake up and he would not be there. The only indication that he still came by would be when Hermione would go to get into the shower and the floor would be wet, or the shower would still have stream in it. It was incredibly frustrating for her. She was always rational and never let her emotions take over, but with him it was different. She _wanted_ to let go and see what happened. But he had stopped her, and by him avoiding her there was no way for her to test it out.

_Test what out?_

_You want to sleep with him._

Hermione blushed crimson at the thought. That had not been what she was thinking. She just wanted to see where this…strange unorthodox relationship was going. And he was not himself lately, she had been thinking about when they were on the couch together and he had seemed so broken. When she saw him in class he looked ill, there was something going on with him, he was not the Draco she knew.

The only reason Hermione was excited about Slughorn's party was because she knew that he would be there. It turned out that Draco had not done so well in potions because he was Snape's favorite like everyone thought. He was actually very good at potions. Hermione had caught a glimpse of some nice clothes hanging in his room and knew that he would be attending the party. Probably with Pansy Parkinson, it seemed as though they had rekindled their old flame. Hermione always saw them together and it always left a knot in her stomach and a feeling of anger. She knew that she was going to make herself look beautiful tonight and she could not wait to see his reaction to her dress.

Draco had been an emotional mess since he had gotten back to school. He had decided that he would not be like this anymore. All this moping and whining about things that he could not change was not helping his situation any. He knew that the dark lord had given him this mission in the hopes that he would fail, and he had a feeling that he would. But he was going to try his damn hardest to do the tasks that needed to be done. He had decided just this morning that he was going to have sex with Hermione Granger. If he was going to die then he at least wanted to experience that. He had been thinking about her much too often and after the party tonight when they were back in their common room he was going to seduce her. He refused to be the mess that he had been being lately, he was Draco Malfoy. Malfoys were not emotional messes and they certainly were not mopers. Enough was enough and what better way to get back to his normal cocky self than being the Slytherin sex god? He could already feel the smirk pulling at his lips. Tonight was going to be a good night.

Hermione dressed for the party, she didn't want to be going with Cormac but she didn't have much of a choice, it was a moment of desperation, she wanted Draco to be jealous. Her choice of dress was also no coincidence, she was wearing emerald green. It was a gorgeous dress and Hermione found that she looked good in green. The dress was simple, it came down to her mid-calf and when she turned certain ways the dress sparked silver, it was very…Slytherin. She probably would have made a good Slytherin if it weren't for her blood. She was cunning and sneaky when she needed to be. She found a way to tame her hair, she left it down and curly, the product she used making it so her curls were formed and not a big messy bush. She added a little make-up and then looked in the mirror. She couldn't believe that it was her staring back. She was getting more and more excited the longer she looked at herself in the mirror. With one final look she decided it was time to go meet Cormac, suppressing a groan at the thought she walked out of her room and straight into Draco.

Draco had been about to knock on Granger's door to ask her something, as he lifted his hand she came out of the room and walked into him. Once he got a look at her he could not remember what it was that he wanted to ask. Just looking at her, in HIS house colors made him want to pounce on her. His eyes slowly roaming over the body that she hid so well beneath her school robes, he decided that she was perfect.

_Except for her blood._

The annoying voices were back, he didn't care though. He had made a choice. He was going to have her, voices in his head be damned.

They had just been staring at each other for a while. Both mesmerized by the other. Finally thought returned to Hermione.

"Hi," She said awkwardly.

He cleared his throat, "uh…hi."

"Was there something you wanted?" She asked

"Don't worry about it." He said, completely embarrassed that he could not remember what it was that he wanted to ask her. Not that it showed. The mask was firmly in place.

"Alright, well I need to go. I'm meeting my date in front of the Great Hall." She said trying to sidestep him and get by.

At the word date he froze, anger coming over him so strong that the mask fell, "Date?" He asked anger clearly present in his voice, "What bloody date?"

Hermione could not help but feel a little smug at his tone. After all he was the one who was always with other girls, why should he care if she was with another boy? She knew that she was jealous every time he talked to another girl, especially since he had been avoiding her. It was nice to know that he didn't want her to be with another boy.

"Oh…" She said trying to play it off like this wasn't part of her plan, "Well you see I'm going to Slughorn's party with Cormac."

"McLaggen?" He asked disbelief lacing his voice.

"I'm sorry, do you have a problem with that?" She was starting to get angry.

"No of course not. Just didn't know that he was the desperate to date someone a year younger than him."

"Excuse me? I'm sorry but didn't you date Astoria Greengrass? She's a year younger than you, what's the matter the Great Draco Malfoy can date people younger but anyone else is deemed desperate by doing so?"

"One Granger, I didn't date Astoria we shagged, lots. Two, are you telling me that you're actually dating that tosser? As in, not just taking you to this stupid party but actually dating him?"

Hermione was angry at his mentioning that he had only shagged Astoria, what a pig, but she was also trying to make sure something happened between them so she needed to make sure he knew that they were not dating.

"No, we are not dating…yet." She had to give him a little bit of hell, "I was just pointing out that you are so full of double standards."

He hated that "yet". But it didn't matter to him, he would still shag her senseless tonight even if she was with bloody McLaggen. It's not as if he wanted Granger for anything more than a quick tumble between the sheets.

"Right, well see you there then." Draco said as he turned around and left the dorm, he had to keep his cool, Hermione was going to be his hardest conquest…he only hoped that she would be worth it.

Hermione soon found out that Cormac had gotten the wrong idea about tonight. He was a little bit too grabby for her taste. He kept touching her and trying to kiss her which she would tactfully avoid. When they had first arrived Hermione instantly ran over to Ginny. She felt like with more people around Cormac would stop trying to grope her.

"GINNY!" Hermione had never felt more relieved to see the redhead.

"Hey Mione!" Ginny replied happily, her and Harry were sitting together on a couch.

Harry turned when he heard Hermione and raised an eyebrow when he saw her come in with Cormac. She hadn't told him she was coming with anyone. Harry also knew that Ron was disappointed that Hermione hadn't invited him to be her date. He had no idea what was going on with his two best friends but he knew that Ron was in love with Hermione, he had thought at one point that Hermione had felt the same but more and more he doubted it. Maybe she no longer had feelings for Ron because of Cormac? He found that unlikely as well because she had never really talked about him. If anyone Hermione talked about Malfoy the most, not that he thought anything was going on with them. Though sometimes he did wonder, on more than one occasion he saw one of them staring at the other.

While Hermione was walking towards Harry and Ginny, Draco Pansy and Theo walked in.

"Why are we even here?" Theo asked, not that he minded too much it just wasn't something he thought they would normally do. Nothing was normal anymore though, ever since Draco…he couldn't even finish the thought. It was too painful for him.

"I was wondering the same thing actually," Pansy said giving Draco a knowing look.

Draco hated when Pansy looked at him that way. Sometimes he would swear that she could read his mind. It was deeply unsettling especially considering where his mind had been lately, when not on his task, it was on Hermione.

"Neither of you seemed to mind til we got here." Draco said slightly under his breath.

"We just wanted you to admit that you're here because of Granger." Theo said as if it was the most casual thing in the world.

Draco who had just taken a sip of his punch nearly spit it back out. "WHAT?" He said while slightly gasping his breath, he had slightly inhaled some of his drink while trying to keep it in his mouth.

Theo looked over at him surprised and then broke out into a grin, "Oh come on now Drake, you honestly didn't think we knew? Do you remember who we are? I'm Theodore Nott," He said sticking out his hand, "We've known each other since we were five and even since that fateful day we've been best mates."

Draco just raised an eyebrow. He had no idea where to go in the conversation. He looked over at Pansy and she was barely containing a smile. "How long have you known?"

"That you fancy Granger?" Pansy asked just to clarify

"I do NOT fancy her." Draco said indignant, "I just want to shag her."

"And how long exactly have you been saying that lie over in your head?" Pansy asked, "Honestly Draco sometimes I don't understand you. Ever since first year there has been ONE girl who has always held your attention more than any other, of course first year it wasn't her blood but you were always looking at her, well scowling really. Then as we got older and you and your stupid blood prejudice took over it was mudblood this and mudblood that. Sorry to be the one to break it to you love, but that girl has been on your mind since you were 11 years old. It was only a matter of time 'til you figured out exactly why she was on your mind. You just never let yourself think it was anything else. I also think it's part of the reason you hate Potter and Weasly so much. You were jealous that they were always with her."

Draco stared at her open mouthed for a good minute. He started to speak but could not think of what to say to his friend, he didn't know if everything she said was right but it had an undeniable ring of truth.

"Since when are you a bloody therapist?" He asked her with an edge in his voice.

"I'm not, I just know you. And sometimes you don't think, your father has tried to utterly warp your brain and though you break through it sometimes, other times you are completely blind."

He still could not believe it, he did not even know what to say after she had said all of that, and one thing was ringing in his head that he needed to clear up.

"That is not why I hate Potter and Weasly, just to tell you. I hate Potter 'cause he's such a self-righteous bastard and I hate Weasly 'cause he's a bloody moron." Draco said matter-of-factly.

Theo bursted out laughing, "I've got to tell you, I changed my mind. Quite glad we came out tonight, only been here a couple minutes and it's the most entertainment I've had in a long time."

Draco scowled before he too succumbed to laughing. A minute later the three of them were in a fit of laughter.

Hermione heard the laughing and looked over at the three Slytherins and froze. She had never seen them look so…human. Draco she had seen broken, snarky, smug, victorious, but never truly happy, not like he was in this moment.

Draco turned his head and his eyes met Hermione's and saw the stunned look on her face. He thought that it was probably because he had a genuine smile on his face, he winked at her and if it was possible her face was even more stunned before he turned back to Theo and Pansy. If it was that easy to stun her than maybe it wouldn't be as hard as he thought it would be to get her into his bed.

Hermione was completely and utterly stunned, not only was Draco literally breath-taking when he fully smiled, not smirked, but he had winked, actually winked at her.


	8. Superior

_A/N: Sooo sorry for the wait…if people are even still reading :-/ but here is chapter 8 so please review cuz it would help me to write faster._

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT own Harry Potter.**

Hermione found herself pushed up against a wall, and unlike earlier this time she craved it. She needed this.

She took a moment to look back at how she ended up this way, sandwiched between a wall and Draco.

Hermione had been leaving Slughorn's party and Cormac had offered to walk her back to her common room. She was sorely disappointed with the way the night had gone. She hadn't seen much of Draco, he was probably off snogging Parkinson somewhere, and had spent most of the night trying to get away from Cormac's grabby hands. But that was all in the past now. Hermione had a plan to wait in the common room for Draco to get back.

While Hermione was deep in all these thought Cormac had a different idea, when an alcove in the hallway came up he took Hermione and slammed her into the wall, he started to kiss her.

Hermione's mind was reeling, she didn't understand what kind of sign she had given Cormac that this was ok, she had practically run away from him all night. She pushed on his shoulders until his upper body was pushed away from her. His lower body was still flushed with hers but she would fix that in a moment.

"What the bloody hell do you think you are doing Cormac?" Hermione had to stop herself from shouting, she was hoping that this was just some kind of misunderstanding.

"Well, no one else is around," Cormac said with a grin, "you can stop playing hard to get Hermy."

She wanted to smack him. And that name? What the hell was that? That was the ugliest nickname anyone had ever come up with for her. Even Malfoy, when he was calling her a mudblood, was better than _Hermy_.

Before Hermione could formulate a response Cormac dove back into her mouth squishing her in between the wall, she didn't know if it was intentional or not but he was pushing so hard against her that she could not move. Hermione starting to panic and thinking about what had happened with Crabbe and Goyle started trying to worm her way out from under him. Before she even moved and inch Cormac was literally thrown from her. She watched as he soared threw the air and landed almost across the hall right on his arse.

Hermione then looked to see who had rescued her and standing not even three feet away was a livid Draco Malfoy, without meaning to, Hermione couldn't help but notice how sexy he looked. A possessive rage had taken him over, it was clearly written on his face and she almost wanted to swoon. This had to prove that he had feelings for her, he thought she was his.

Draco's eyes raked over Hermione to make sure that she was ok, once he saw that her physical he quickly turned and stalked to Mclaggen. He lifted the boy who was a year older than him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him forcefully into the wall, coming face to face with him.

"What do you think you're doing?" Draco said in a voice deadly calm.

Mclaggen was so confused and thrown off that he didn't know how to approach this confrontation. He tried speaking but nothing would come out.

"Let me clear this up for you," Draco said still calm, "When a girl pushes you off of her and asks what are you doing, chances are, they don't like what you are doing. I'm going to let you walk away, just listen to a girl next time."

Draco let him go, thinking that Mclaggen had not been about to rape Hermione, the kid was just an idiot and thought that all girls wanted him. Plus he was pretty sure he had made him practically shit his pants.

Draco turned back around and saw that Cormac was still against the wall, trembling, looking at him with shock on his face.

"By the way, stay the hell away from her," Draco turned around and pointed at Hermione, "if you know what's good for you."

Draco changed the hand that was pointing and opened it, holding it out for Hermione, "Let's go Granger" he said.

Hermione went took his hand and they walked back to their dorm room holding hands.

And now Hermione was pushed up against a wall again, but it felt so different from earlier. As soon as they had walked into the common room together Draco had pinned her with his eyes and slowly walked towards her, raking his eyes over her much like he had in the hallway. He walked so close to her that she had started to back away but he kept coming and now, she found herself in a smiliar situation she was in earlier but couldn't find it in her to feel the way she had earlier.

"Are you ok?" Draco asked, eyes looking all around her face, as if he could see if there was something wrong.

Hermione couldn't say a word, he was too close and it felt like she lost her voice. All she could do was nod and that's what she did, then before she could do anything else Draco was kissing along her jaw, over her chin and up the other side of her jaw.

"You scared me for a minute there." He mumbled against her skin.

Hermione closed her eyes and rolled her head back against the wall, giving him access to her neck.

Draco smirked as she leaned her head back, this was going a lot easier than he had anticipated. He started to slowly kiss down her neck, after a few slightly chaste kisses he decided to speed it up a little bit opening his mouth and lightly flicking his tongue on her skin, he wanted to moan she tasted better than he thought she would.

Hermione was struggling to not moan herself, she was scared that if she did it would break Draco out of this spell he was in. He would probably realize what he was doing and leave her, just like he always did. It was getting harder and harder not to moan. Then he used his teeth on her collar bone and she couldn't stifle the moan that came. She instantly tensed waiting to see what he would do.

Draco let out a short laugh, "It's ok to moan Granger." He said while he continued over to her shoulder where he slipped the strap of her dress off. All the while thinking that her moans were probably the sexiest thing he had ever heard.

Hermione chose not to acknowledge that comment, before she even realized what was happening her dress was pooled at her feet. The cool air hit her flushed skin taking her slightly out of her lust filled mind as she realized a boy, not to mention this boy, was about to see her in her underwear.

Once the dress fell Draco took a step back to see. And he was not disappointed, his breath caught in his throat, her body was even more beautiful than he had imagined. He must have been staring for too long because Hermione had started to move her hand to cover her body.

With his seeker reflexes Draco quickly took her wrists in each hand to stop the movement, "Don't even think about covering up what I've been dreaming about." He said before he quickly swooped in and gave her another toe curling kiss.

While their tongues were fighting for dominance Hermione started to unbutton his shirt, she wanted to feel that beautiful chest up against hers. She wanted skin on skin contact with this beautiful confusing boy.

When all the buttons were gone Draco helped her slide his shirt off of his shoulders, and quickly moved back to her neck while slowly moving his hands up her sides to her breasts, he went tantalizingly slow.

Hermione was about to grab his hands and put them where she wanted when she looked down and something caught her eye. At first she didn't believe what she was seeing, there was no way that it could be. And then realization that she was really seeing what she thought struck and it felt like she was punched in the stomach.

All lust filled thoughts were quickly gone from her mind, it was as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on her.

She quickly pushed Draco off of her, and he looked so confused. They had both wanted this for a while now and he did not understand why she was stopping him now that they both had given in. When he looked her in the eyes he had become even more confused, her beautiful chocolate eyes, the ones that haunted his dreams for a long time not, were quickly filling with tears.

"Hermione…" He said softly, like the night she had almost been raped, "what's wrong?"

He went to cup her cheek and she flinched away. She also didn't realize how someone using your name could hurt, but oh how it hurt when he said it, especially since she now knew he was a Death Eater. He had no right talking to her that way, like she was worth something. And that mark on his arm said that to him she wasn't even a person, so how could he talk to her like she was something of value. The hurt on his face from her flinching was not missed on her either. How dare he? What right did he have to get hurt for her not wanting someone like him touching her?

"I see that you've blemished your beautiful skin." She said voice wavering with the unshed tears in her eyes.

Draco looked even more confused if that was possible, "what are you…" He stopped his eyes widening as he realized what she meant.

"Hermione…listen to me." He said as she started to pick up her dress and put it back on.

Hermione couldn't decide exactly what emotions were running through her body, she didn't know if it was heartbreak which it felt like, or anger, or confused, or undeniable sad, sad for this boy who was just starting to become a man, sad that he had made this choice, sad that he would go down this path, sad that one day she may have to kill him or he her. The truth was every single one of these powerful emotions were running through her and she did not know what to do. There was no real logic in this, it was all feeling.

"Don't call me that." She said looking him in the eye, tears still there not knowing whether to fall or not.

Draco could not understand how this happened, how had such a perfect night turn into this, but the answer was there, a slight throb in his arm.

"I didn't choose this," He said his voice almost pleading with her.

If Draco had been thinking clearly he would be disgusted with his own voice, Malfoy men did not plead. But that did not matter now, what mattered was that _she_ was looking at him with disgust and a million other things, he wanted that look to stop, he wanted to kiss her. Hell if he was being honest with himself he wanted a lot more from her.

"There is always a choice, even if something is chosen for you there is always an out, always _something_." She said the anger coming out.

She quickly brushed by him by he grabbed her arm.

"You need to listen to me." He said, anger now showing on his face.

"Oh I need to listen to you do I? Is that because you're superior to me? Cause I have filthy blood, because I am no better that than the dirt beneath your feet. Do you even realize what that abominable thing on your arm means? I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this but I am superior to you specifically because that hideous atrocity will never be near me or my friends. I am _no one's _slave, yet you, you who is supposed to be better than me and you bow down before some…thing that is not even 'pureblood'." Her voice had gotten louder with each word and then she paused and said softly, "I am such an idiot for not remembering, for not realizing exactly who you are. I thought you were better than this, you could have been so much better than this."

Hermione left then, Draco long forgetting what it was that he wanted to say to her. She was right, he had claimed superiority for years and in the end it was her, she was better than he could ever be. He was bound to serve a man who was no longer human, no longer resembling anything that looked like a man and he was preaching something that he did not even have. Voldemort was a half blood and purebloods bowed down to him.

Draco sat heavily on the couch thinking of everything Hermione had just said. The words "There is always a choice, even if something is chosen for you there is always an out, always _something_" echoing through his head.


	9. Needing Comfort

_A/N: Sooo I'm terribly sorry. I suck! Please reviewwwww im working on chapter 10 right now and getting reviews will make me write fasterrr!_

**Disclaimer: As you all know, I don't actually own Harry Potter :(**

Hermione woke up and realized she was not in her bed, there were subtle signs that alerted her to this. One was that her bed was not this hard, the bed in the head dormitory was the softest bed she had ever slept on, the one she was laying on now was kind of hard. The biggest hint was the three sets of snoring she could hear. She opened her eyes and looked around, she was in the Gryffindor boys dormitory. The previous night came back to her and she wished that she could have still been sleeping. After finding out that Draco was a Death Eater she had run up to the Gryffindor common room, she had been in quite a state and didn't know where else to go. She had found Harry and Ron in the common room playing wizard's chess.

They had looked over at her startled by her abrupt appearance. She came in winded because she had run the whole way, trying to run from the memories and the revelations the night had held. As soon as she saw the boys she felt relief, she knew it would be short lived but at the time she didn't care. She needed something, anything, to get rid of this pain. It was almost crippling, she knew that she couldn't stop to think or analyze it because it would surely incapacitate her. Then she had to avoid the reason for why it hurt so much. Harry had been thinking all year that Dra- MALFOY was a Death Eater, but she had denied it not believing, not wanting it to be true. It should not have to come to shock her so badly and yet it had.

Ron was the first one to break the silence that was slowly building up in the room while all of these thoughts were running through Hermione's head at a mile a min. He cleared his throat, "Hey Mione," He said with a hesitant smile, not doubt a little bewildered by her flustered and late night visit.

Hermione realized that she was going to have to act like everything was ok, there was no way she could tell these two what had happened, they could never understand. If there was one thing that D- MALFOY had taught Hermione it was how to act. Every time he called her mudblood, after the first time, she swore she would ever let him see how much it hurt her. And she had perfected it. Now she was going to put that skill to good use.

"Hey boys," She said making a smile light her face, she wasn't sure how genuine it looked but she was going to try her damned hardest, "I realized that it's been a while since we've hung out and I decided that I'm going to sleep here tonight."

Harry looked a little skeptical, he wasn't completely buying her story. Ron on the other hand was a bit too eager to accept it.

Before Ron could say anything Harry started talking, "So you decided to run here in the middle of the night just because you missed us so much?" His skepticism thoroughly laced throughout his question.

"Well," Hermione said quickly coming up with a lie, "I noticed that it was getting late, and I wanted to make sure I caught you in the common room. I wanted to spend some time with you guys and then since it is getting late I figured why not just make a night of it. That is, well as long as you guys don't mind."

"Of course not Mione!" Ron said happily, "I'll even sleep on the floor so that you can take my bed." He said with a smile, and the turning to Harry he said, "you know mate you need to lighten up. Of course Mione's here because she missed us."

Hermione felt guilt shoot through her at Ron's statement. She hadn't been spending very much time with her best friends, and she _should _be here because she missed them. She was beginning to feel like a horrible person. That stupid Slytherin wanker was rubbing off on her.

Harry was looking between the two of them. He seemed to know Hermione better than Ron did which was a concept he could not understand because he knew that Ron fancied Hermione. Although Harry could tell that there was something Hermione was not telling them he decided not to push it. He trusted her judgment and knew that she would talk about it when she was ready. Her fake smiles and lies could not get past him but he knew better than to try to confront her. It was obvious she wanted to be around them and try to forget about her problems for a little bit so he figured there was no harm in obliging her. He knew what it was like, having lost Sirius last year. There were times where Harry would rather have a double potions class with Snape than think about what was going on.

Hermione came back to the present, the pain back from having to remember last night. She didn't understand how he could be a Death Eater, this year had changed her entire perception of him she knew he was not the muggle hater he pretended to be. If he was then all of their interactions this year could not have happened. He would have let Crabbe and Goyle…do what they were going to. They would not have had the moments that they did or the comforting silences or… their kisses. She had no idea what she was going to do about this whole situation. Should she tell someone? Harry would instantly go to Dumbledore and she was not sure what he would do about the situation. Draco, like the rest of them, was only a child. They were all children slowly being forced to play grown up, be in a war which is something that even a lot of grown men and women never have to experience firsthand like they were going to have to. The world was not fair and in all their cases it could be fatal. Maybe…maybe Malfoy really didn't have a choice, the rest of them did not really have one about being in a war or not. Hermione just happened to be on the right side, but maybe that was only because she was a muggleborn. What if she had been raised the way that he had? To be taught from birth that you are better than everyone else and certain people did not deserve to live. Could she honestly say that she would be on the right side?

She thought of Lupin, he was a pureblood on the right side, but he was a werewolf. Maybe his family had shunned him and he realized how wrong the ideals were. Sirius Black had been on the side of the light even though he had come from the notorious Black pureblood line. But he had met James and Lily Potter they were the ones who showed him how wrong the teachings were. Maybe Malfoy just hadn't met someone who could challenge and change his views. She thought back on the last couple months of school. He HAD changed…maybe just maybe she had been the catalyst for him. He just really could not have gotten out of it.

Voldemort did not seem like one who would take no for an answer, maybe Draco had been threatened. What if Voldemort had threatened someone Draco loves.

Hermione's head was swimming with a thousand possibilities. He had said that he had not had a choice, maybe Hermione Granger Gryffindor know-it-all, brightest witch of her age, was wrong. She had no idea what it was like to grow up in a home where every aspect of your life was laid out before you. Half of purebloods had been betrothed from birth if that wasn't medieval and barbaric enough. That kind of control probably could not be broken very easily. And the Malfoy's were one of the oldest pureblood lines, Draco was half Malfoy half Black, two of the most notorious lines.

She needed to get out of bed, maybe go for a walk all of these thought were not healthy she was starting to obsess over it. It was time to go to the library and read up on some things. Maybe finish up her homework to not think about…_him_. With that in mind she got up and fell, right on top of Ron.

"Hmm…wha..what?" Ron said startled.

Hermione started blushing, "oh Ron," She said trying to get up, "I'm so sorry, I forgot that you were there."

Hermione reached out a hand to let Ron up, he took it and was standing very close to her.

" 's ok Mione." He said with a sleepy smile. "What are you doing up so early anyways? It's only 6 o'clock, you should go back to bed."

"I'm not going to be able to go back to sleep, you should try to get some in your own bed." She said with a smile trying to walk away.

Ron grabbed her arm saying, "you sure? I mean..uhh.." Ron started to blush, Hermione could see it in the faint light coming from the windows, "what I mean to say is that we could probably both fit on the bed if you want to try to go back to sleep."

Hermione could not believe that he had said that. She had had a feeling that MAYBE Ron fancied her but this, this was bold for him. She decided that it would be best for both of them if she played it off like it was no big deal. She had too much to deal with already without adding Ron into the mix of everything else.

"Oh no Ron, really I'm fine. Thank you anyways." Putting on a big smile Hermione once again went to exit the room.

She heard him mumble something along the lines of , "ok" as she walked out of the door.

Breathing a sigh of relief as the door closed behind her, Hermione started to make her way down the stairs to the common room. To her surprise Harry was up, sitting on one of the couches.

He looked up as she made her way down the stairs, he looked like he had not slept at all. Hermione felt another pang of guilt as she realized he had not been looking very good all year, she had just been too busy to really notice or pay attention.

"Hi." Harry said his voice rough with exhaustion.

"Hey Harry," She said, "Are you alright? You look like you didn't get a wink of sleep."

"Yea, I feel like I haven't gotten sleep in months." Harry said a grimace contorting his face, "I..I just have nightmares, sometimes it exactly what happened that night. Other times its versions of that night, worse things happening like you or Ron, sometimes you and Ron and Sirius dying. Sometimes it's easier to just not sleep."

"Oh Harry!" Hermione said running the rest of the way to him, she wrapped her arms around him the second she reached him. "I'm so sorry I haven't been around much! You should have told me about this sooner. "

"You've been busy. And I didn't want to say anything, I was hoping they would just go away on their own but they haven't. I just can't take it anymore, I forget what it feels like to sleep for a whole night. Speaking of, you're up a bit early yourself."

She could not place the tone in his voice and let go of him so she could look at his face and she sort of wished that she hadn't. Harry knew her better than anyone else in the world. People often misinterpreted their relationship thinking that there was more because they were so close to each other. His face said that he knew there was something going on, something she was not telling him.

"I just woke up and couldn't fall back to sleep is all." Hermione said feigning innocence.

"Do I look like Ron to you? I could tell something was wrong last night, I let it go because obviously you didn't want to talk about it, having just shared what's bothering me I was hoping that you would also be in the sharing mood."

"Harry, I…" Hermione hesitated, her earlier dilemma back, Harry would want to go straight to Dumbledore as would she if it were anyone else. But it wasn't someone else it was Draco…and she just could not turn him in.

"I'm really not ready to talk about it." She decided that being honest with him was the best way to go. Honest but without really telling him at all.

"I just want you to know that you can tell me anything. I trust you more then I trust anyone else in the whole world Hermione. You are the closest thing to family that I have left."

"You have Ron too Harry." She had to point it out even though she knew it was not the same with Ron as it was with them.

Harry gave her the look, the one that said she knew it was different.

"I love Ron. He is my best friend. You know, as well as I do, that because we are only children we understand each other. We both also grew up in the muggle world, not knowing about magic. We are like brother and sister only much closer than that."

"I know Harry, I know. And I trust you more than I trust anyone else in the world too. I just am really not ready to talk about it."

"Ok, well when you are, you know right where you can find me." Harry pulled her close and kissed her on the forehead.

They sat together, Hermione's head on Harry's shoulder with Harry's arm wrapped around her for a long time. Just enjoying each other's company and taking comfort in one another.


	10. Caring

When Gryffindor house started to stir Hermione decided it was time to go to the library. People talked about her and Harry enough without finding them cuddling on the couch. Not to mention what happened with Ron earlier, if he had been the one to find them he probably would have assumed what everyone else does about them. That would have been yet another thing she could not deal with. There was too much that could wrong. Her brain was about to short circuit, she desperately needed to get lost in a book. She also had no idea what would happen when she had to face Draco again. Would he sneer at her? Call her a mudblood? Hit her books out of her hand? Hex her? Curse her?

It was making her stomach turn just thinking about all of those possibilities, apparently that was the problem with Draco anything having to do with him had too many possibilities, most of them not good. He was like a wild card, no idea what would really happen. He was unpredictable now that she knew his secret. Before she could tell right when he was going to sneer, right when he was going to insult her, since the beginning of the year she had not been able to predict what he was going to do. Their relationship had changed, they were no longer enemies, they were…well she didn't know exactly what they were, it had been hard to label…still was hard to label.

Draco's stomach was turning the same time Hermione's was but for a completely different reason. Hermione had only found out he was a Death Eater the night before and he had already done a lot of thinking. Today was a busy day for him, he had gotten almost everything he needed to get down and it was only 8 in the morning. The last thing he needed to do was something he dreaded and something he had been dreading since he was assigned to do it. He had to let the other Death Eaters into Hogwarts. He was also supposed to kill Albus Dumbledore, but he couldn't think of that, not now, not ever. When the time came something would have to be done but he was going to worry about that later.

He knew exactly what he needed to do in order to finish the vanishing cabinet tonight and that left his mind to worry over other things. Other things that always seemed to turn to Granger, he could not get the way she had looked at him out of his head. It was as if it had imprinted into his brain, and that troubled him. There were few things that could actually bother Draco Malfoy, and if something did bother him it tended to mean that he…cared.

Draco wanted to shoot himself as soon as he realized the connection he had made. He actually _cared _about the way the bushy haired Gryffindor had looked at him, he _cared_ that she had been disgusted with him, he _cared_ that they would no longer have study time together and the verbal sparring they would have when doing their homework together would be no more, he _cared,_ quite simply, for her.

He knew that he had started to care for her much earlier than he would ever admit, to himself or anyone. He just did not know what to do with the information know that he had acknowledged it and accepted it. Should he tell her? Today might be the last day they will ever see each other again. One or both of them could easily die in the upcoming war.

He needed to go talk to Theo and Pansy, to tell them what was going on and what they needed to do for tonight. He needed them safe and away from the eyes of the Death Eaters. If he could he was going to prevent anyone he cared about becoming a Death Eater. And there was that damn word again. Care, since when did Draco Malfoy care so bloody much? It was probably going to be the thing that got him killed, he was not a fucking Hufflepuff for Merlin's sake.

After talking with Pansy and Theo, Draco still did not have a clue what to do about Granger, he needed to warn her about tonight either way. He was not going to risk her ignorance being something that could potentially get her killed or captured. She was, after all, Potty's best friend. That teamed with the fact that she was a well-known muggleborn would be a field day for a Death Eater, especially someone like Aunt Bella, always trying to please the Dark Lord.

The problem was he did not know where to find her. She had stormed off last night and had not returned. It was now nearing Lunch time but it was not as if he could walk up to her in the Great Hall and tell her there would be an invasion of Death Eaters tonight. That would not go over well. He would probably be dead by sunrise tomorrow, either from the Order or the Dark Lord himself.

He wanted to smack himself in the head the second he realized it was _Granger_, where she was, most likely, would be the library. He quickly took off in the direction of the library hoping that luck would be on his side.

If there was ever a time in his life that Draco Malfoy needed luck tonight would be it.

Hermione decided that it was time to eat something, the book she was trying to get lost in was not working out for her. Every other sentence she would find her mind drifting to Draco. It was starting to get annoying. This had never been a problem for her before, whenever her thoughts would become too overwhelming she could always escape for a little bit in a good story. She could even distract herself from war, but one stupid Slytherin could prevent her from enjoying a book.

It was enough to make her want to go strangle him. But she decided against it, it would be best to go to the Great Hall and get something to eat. Maybe try to get lost in a conversation with someone.

Just as she was heading out of the door she saw the subject of her thoughts racing towards her.

The second they made eye contact he started to slow down, clearly she was what he was looking for her, the second she thought that a warm feeling spread through her stomach.

And then she remembered, he is a Death Eater.

_Get a grip. He may even be coming to kidnap you. You're a threat to him now. You know his secret._

Even thinking all these things could not stop her from being happy… just a _little_ bit happy… to see him.

Again she felt the strong urge to strangle him. Or herself, how could one person be so stupid. Especially her, the ever rational Hermione Granger, brains of the Golden Trio and the brightest witch of her age.

When Draco was only a couple feet from Hermione someone yelled her name.

She turned around to find Harry and Ron walking from behind her, both had big smiles on their faces, so happy to see their friend. She felt guilt run through her yet again. She had become a terrible person because while they looked so happy to see her, the only thoughts she had been thinking were that they were closer to her than Draco was. They were going to reach her first and with them standing beside her he would not be able to talk to her about whatever the reason he had been running to find her was.

She quickly turned back to where Draco was and saw the slightest shift in his expression, it look like a mix between panic and disappointment and then the Malfoy mask was in place. Not a single emotion could be seen from the outside, not even his eyes which had become steely gray letting nothing be known to the world.

Hermione turned back to face her friends feeling disappointment shoot through her. She would have to seek him out later to find out what the problem was. She doubted he wanted to talk about last night. But if he did…it might be nice to get some answers.

"Hello boys! I was just heading down to the Great Hall, would you like to join me?"

"We were just coming by to see if you wanted to join us. We figured you had probably worked up and appetite, either that or we were going to have to drag you out of the library." Harry said with a smile.

Hermione genuinely laughed, recalling many times where the boys had had to drag her out of the library because she was so enthralled with a book.

Right as she started to laugh Draco had finally caught up to her. He was entranced for a moment watching her laugh. He had decided as soon as he saw the rest of the Golden Trio he was going to have improvise. He needed to make sure she would be in their common room, he needed to tell her to meet him there. He needed to warn her. So he would have to stop and talk to her while Thing 1 and Thing 2 were right there.

Hermione's heart almost stopped as Draco walked up to the three of them and stood there looking at her, what on earth was he doing, they had **never** had a conversation about _anything_ in front of Harry and Ron before. They did not converse or interact in front of their respective friends.

Ron and Harry turned to face Draco simultaneously, Harry looking surprised and Ron instantly scowling.

"What do you want Ferret?" Ron practically growled

Draco, already wanting to punch the weasel for the way he had been looking at Hermione, had to restrain himself even further.

"Potter." He said nodding his head at Harry who nodded back, "Granger," he said turning to Hermione, "I need to speak to you later…in the common room about next week's rounds."

"Ok, what time were you thinking?" Hermione said, hoping no one could hear the slight tremble in her voice.

"How about 5:30?"

"That's fine."

Draco just nodded and walked away. Hoping that his adrenaline would stop pumping, one of these days he was going to punch Weaslebee, especially if he kept looking at Hermione like that.

This had been the longest day of Draco's life and he knew that the hardest had yet to come. First he had to tell Hermione, and then he would have to let the Death Eaters in, and then…Professor Dumbledore was going to die.

Hermione was stressing to say the least. It felt like she was having a full blown panic attack. Draco had just made a real effort to speak to her later. Something big was going to happen, he would not have run to find her or spoken to her in front of Harry and Ron if it was not something very important.

She tried very hard to stay focused on what the boys were talking about but it was not working out too well. She was just waiting for 5:30 to come around.

"Hermione…did you hear what I said?" Harry said

"What? Oh, Harry I'm so sorry. Please repeat it."

"Dumbledore and I are going out tonight. He thinks he's found one."

"Tonight? Really? Are you sure you're ready for this? This is huge and dangerous and I just hope that you will be careful. Dumbledore is asking an awful lot from you."

"We are about to be in a war, a war that I'm going to be singlehandedly responsible for ending. You want to talk about huge and dangerous? I have to start somewhere."

"Harry James Potter! You will be doing nothing singlehandedly, Ron, the Order and I will be with you every step of the way. You should know this by now."

"I'm sorry, but you know that when it comes down to it, I'M the one who is going to have to kill him. I'M the one who is the chosen one, whether we like it or not." Harry said his face turning very grim at the end.

Hermione reached her hand across the table to grab Harry's hand, oblivious to the fact that Ron's eyes zeroed in on the two essentially holding hands.

"You're right. I'm so sorry. But you know that we are here with you. Anything you need and we can help we will do everything in our power to do it. We love you."

Ron's eyes narrowed even further. A slow rage growing inside of him that neither of his two best friends noticed.

"I know 'Mione." Harry said with a slight smile squeezing her hand then letting it go, giving her a small smile.

"I'll go to the library and see if there's anything I've been missing before I have to have my chat with Malfoy."

"Sounds good, I've got to head to Dumbledore's office anyways. Good luck."

Harry got up and left the table, sparing a glance at his best friends before he left the hall. Hermione could not help the foreboding feeling in her stomach that after tonight everything was going to change. She could hardly wait for 5:30.

A/N: So I'm almost done with Chapter 11 and I'm kind of sort of hoping you guys could give me some **reviews**?

Would that be possible? Pretty Please :D


	11. Almost Love

So a couple of things before you read please:

**1. Mature content in this chapter. So please no one under 18**

**2. This had not been betad so if its terrible i appologize**

**3. First time writing anything smuttish tho i dont really think its thhhattt bad but still...id appreciate some feedback.**

**LAST BUT NOT LEAST: I'm sooo sorry its been so long. wont give excuses. i suck but thank you to those still reading...i hope you enjoy and more reviews=faster next chapter**

**Thanks :)**

Hermione left the library with a big sigh, she had not been able to find anything on Horcruxes. She had been searching for a while and could not find a single thing. Luckily worrying about Harry had been enough to distract her from the time and it was now 5:20. She had to consciously stop herself from running all the way to the common room.

When she walked in she looked around the common area and didn't see Draco, she hoped he was here.

Draco walked out of the bathroom the moment Hermione was about to have a full on emotional meltdown. The second she saw him, was much like every other time this year, she acted on instinct and ran over to him wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest.

Draco was thrown off by her reaction but did not hesitate to wrap his arms around her and bury his face in her hair. He did not know if he would ever be able to smell her again after tonight and want to drown himself in her. He would probably never admit it out loud but being named head boy was the best thing that could have ever happened to him. Without it he would never had had his time with her. And she was by far the best thing that could happen to anyone let alone someone who needed love as badly as he did.

_Wait…did he just think…love?_

They were not in love…yet. But maybe, if they had had more time they could have been. He cared about her. It was not an easy thing to worm your way into Draco Malfoy's small inner circle and she had done it effortlessly. Just being around her had made him care for her. So…it is not completely out of the realm of possibility to assume they could have had love. Probably one of the greatest loves of all time given the way they were both so stubborn and the passion that they had shared with just a few kisses. Draco would like to think that if he ever fell in love, it would be the real kind. Not the sweet butterflies and fluffy kind. The kind that made you hurt because you miss them so bad, the kind that challenged you and made you a better person, the kind that one kiss can be felt from your entire body, even maybe touching the soul a little, the kind that, he was feeling a little bit with this young woman in his arms.

His gut turned with the thought. They could have had so much if not for the way their world was. They were kids being pulled in 10 different directions by parents or morals or decisions they had made.

It was strange that they found comfort and the beginnings of love in one another. Having so much animosity with each other for so many years many would think that it was not possible but it had happened.

Hermione had started to cry as Draco held her, her thoughts were not far off from the ones he was thinking. Her body started to shake from the sobs she was trying to hold in.

Draco felt her body start to shake. He lifted his head off of hers and cupped her cheek forcing her to look up at him.

Hermione gasped as she saw the emotions that were in Draco's eyes. He looked at her like he cherished her, there was also caring and worry and something else that she could not put her finger on.

Hermione cleared her throat so that she could speak. "What's going to happen tonight? I can feel it, I know that everything is going to change after tonight so please…just tell me."

Draco was surprised, he didn't know that she had intuition like that. " Are you some kind of seer?"

Hermione scoffed, a pang going through her that he did not know how much she hated divination, if only they had more time.

"Divination is the most stupid class and 'magic' ever to be taught here. No I am not a seer nor do I believe in anyone really being a seer. I just _know_."

From the tone in her voice her realized it would not be a good time to point out that that was technically what seers did, they just knew things sometimes, other times they would actually _see_ but not always. He took a deep breath, it was not going to be easy to tell her. He didn't think he could handle seeing the disgust in her eyes again. But he would take it if he had to, the alternative was not to warn her and there was no way he was not going to tell her.

"You know that Death Eaters are given a task to do to prove themselves worthy of bearing the mark?"

Hermione could not find her voice at the moment so she only nodded her head.

"I…I'm…I have to let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. And it's going to happen tonight. I understand if you hate me, but I had to warn you. You need to be ready. And you cannot tell anyone else. If the Death Eaters find out that I told anyone they will kill me. I get that you may not care if that happens but if you ever cared for me at all please don't."

Draco did not see the smack coming, the second after he finished talking his cheek was burning and his head was turned the other way. He removed his hand from Hermione's face and placed it on his own cheek, working his jaw.

"Well your slaps have certainly improved in three years." He drawled out.

"How dare you try to imply that I do not care for you!" She was practically screeching, "After all this time? Last night I found out you were a **Death Eater**, and here I am standing in front of you. JUST. BECAUSE. YOU. ASKED." She went to slap him again but this time he saw it coming and stopped her before she made contact.

He figured that was as close as they were going to get with their declarations and with her wrist still in his hand and quickly captured her mouth with his own.

If this was the last time they were ever going to see each other he was going to make the best of it. He was going to…Salazar forgive him…make love to her. He did not want a shag or a fuck or a quickie, she meant too much, she would probably be the only person who would ever be able to get these kinds of feelings out of him and he wanted it to last.

He licked in between her lips, asking for entrance which she granted immediately. He was trying to be slow and sensual, she was being fierce and passionate. He decided that the first time could be heated and uncontrollable but afterwards he could have his way with her. With that decision made he quickly switched gears and was meeting her passion equally.

Clothes were being ripped off and thrown around the room. In seconds both were in nothing more than their underwear, they separated for a moment both of them panting, barely able to catch their breath.

"There's something I need to tell you." Hermione said in between pants.

Draco just raised an eyebrow at her, he was not going to attempt to talk. If she told him she could not do this he thought he would die.

"I…I've um never done this before…"She said looking away from him a blush crawling its way up her cheeks.

Draco felt his chest swell. She was a virgin. Before he got too far ahead of himself he cleared his throat and asked, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Slytherin sex god Draco never would have asked that to a girl. It didn't matter to him if they were really sure. Virgin or not, he didn't force himself on girls but he also didn't stop halfway through to make sure they were making the right decision.

She looked up at him, looked into his eyes, "of course I'm sure."

"Really Hermione, if you don't want to I won't be mad or anything."

Draco wanted to kick himself. One part of him yelling that she said she was sure, why keep questioning her? Just do it already. The other part of him needing to know that she knew she was ready for this, that she wanted him.

"Yes. I'm sure. Now please shut up and kiss me."

That apparently satisfied the worried half of him because he quickly kissed her, picked her up and laid her down on the couch.

His hands went for her breasts teasing her nipples through the fabric of her bra. Hermione's back arched, pushing her body more fully against his.

His hands were everywhere it seemed. Hermione had never dealt with such sensory overload before. Her brain had shut off. There was only feeling left.

Gaining some of her sense back she started to touch him back. She moved her hands over his defined chest, running her hands over every line she could reach. Her hands gaining more confidence with each stroke she started to move them lower to Draco's waistline.

Stopping her hand from going where he most wanted it Draco broke this kiss.

"Sorry love but if you touch me there I won't last."

Hearing this filled Hermione with a heady sort of power. He wanted her so badly that he would not be able to control himself if she touched him. _Draco Malfoy, _master of control, couldn't handle the touch of _Hermione Granger_, bookworm, know-it-all, muggleborn Gryffindor.

Hermione just nodded her head. Not able to make any words come out of her mouth with her brain so engrossed with all the feelings and revelations. Instead of trying to form words she attached her normally very articulate mouth to the beautiful mouth in front of her.

Draco's skillful fingers unhooked her bra in one quick motion. He sat back for a moment to take in the perfect shape of them and the perfect pink buds. The sight somehow managed to make him harder. Before she had a chance to get self-conscious about being exposed to his hungry gaze he latched his mouth onto the life bud in front of him and began kneading the other.

Fire. His mouth was fire but the most delicious fire she had ever felt. His hands were the perfect texture. Everything about him was just perfect.

Somewhere between the kissing, sucking, kneading and moving hands Draco had removed Hermione's underwear. He started to kiss his way down her body and soon realized the couch was not big enough for what he wanted to do. Finding his wand on the floor he transfigured the couch into a bed and rejoined Hermione. Positioning her so she would be at the head of the bed he moved himself in between her legs. Looking over her body from the new location his breath caught.

"Merlin, you are gorgeous."

Hermione blushed. Not having practically any experience with boys she had no idea what he was doing and had been a little confused when he had started to move down her body. All of that was momentarily forgotten when he had said those words to her.

Sticking a finger up into her core Draco rested his head on Hermione's upper thigh and released a groan. She was so tight around his digit he couldn't wait to see how she would feel around him.

Pumping his finger in and out of her he added another. Dropping his mouth down Draco started to use his tongue on her clit while still working his fingers.

His ministrations had Hermione a moaning mess in minutes. A few moments later she had her first orgasm.

Feeling her clench around his fingers Draco kept pumping to make the sensation last as long as possible, then with the blissfully dazed look still in her eyes he entered her quickly to minimize the pain.

Hermione's entire body arched forward when Draco entered her. She bit her lip to keep from whimpering as he tore through her hymen. While she was trying to relax her body Draco remained perfectly still.

He had seen the pain flash across her face as he broke through her innocence. He hated that he had had to hurt her but unfortunately it couldn't be helped. The fact that he was in pain now made him feel a little bit better about it. It was painful for him to remain still while she adjusted to his size.

The pain was gone but Hermione was marveling at a different feeling. With him inside of her she felt complete somehow…full. Being curious by nature she moved her hips making it so he was almost all the way out of her and then slowly moved them back so he filled her completely.

While Hermione was experimenting with feeling him in her Draco watched her face in awe, she was one of a kind, his witch.

Without much more thought on the subject Draco began to set the pace.

With little sounds coming out of Hermione mouth Draco picked up the pace and became less gentle with her. Those sounds were driving him on making him forget that this was her first time. With the pickup in pace the sounds coming out of Hermione were no longer little but loud, drawn out moans. Draco knew she would be coming again soon and went harder and faster so that they could come together. Feeling her clench around him was his undoing. He joined her almost a second after she started to climax.

When he could somewhat catch his breath he pulled out of Hermione and fell to the side of her. He buried his head in between her neck and her shoulder. He didn't want her to feel like he just wanted to get away from her but he also didn't want to crush her.

Hermione started to run her fingers through his hair, it was so soft and beautiful that she couldn't help herself. She just wanted to lay with him like this forever. It was not often that her thought went on hiatus and for once she was enjoying it.

Draco leaned on his elbow over Hermione and looked into her honey colored eyes. There was such warmth in them. It was as if her eyes transferred that feeling into his body. He leaned down and kissed her for the sole reason that he could and that he wanted to.

Hermione sighed. She could not remember a time in her life when she had ever been this happy. Which was odd considering what she had been feeling earlier, they had all been such negative emotions it was hard to remember what that had felt like with the way that she was feeling now.

Unfortunately having these thoughts brought reality crashing down on her, Draco had to let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts! She gasped.

Draco saw the mood shift in her eyes, as if following her thoughts his mark started to burn.

"Shit." He said and quickly got out of the bed.

Hermione followed his lead and both were redressing as fast as they could.

Draco stopped halfway from putting his shirt on and hissed while grasping his arm. The burn was excruciating.

Hermione stopped buttoning her own shirt and ran over to him.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"My mark," Draco said through clenched teeth, "it's burning. That means it's time."

The look on his face was one of the deepest sadness. He cupped Hermione's cheek in his hand. He didn't know if he would ever see her again. Rubbing his thumb along her cheek bone he looked into her eyes.

"I just want you to know that even though this has been the hardest, shittiest year of my life, I wouldn't change a thing that's happened."

Tears sprang into Hermione's eyes. All she could do was nod her head and hope he understood that she meant she wouldn't change anything either.

Draco gave her a quick kiss before he continued to dress.

"Well at least the burnings stopped." He said looking at his mark.

"What…what _exactly _is going to happen tonight?" Hermione asked as she finished buttoning up her shirt.

"I can't tell you exactly. But there will more than likely be some fighting so I need you to be careful. I know asking you to stay in here is out of the question but I want you to promise me you'll be careful."

"I promise."

"Hermione…I…" Draco was interrupted by a pounding on the portrait.

"HERMIONE! OPEN THE DOOR!" It was Ron shouting from outside.

"Why's the weasel here?"

"I have no idea, I should probably go find out."

Hermione let a very enraged Ron into the room. He looked around the room as if he had the intention of finding something to his dislike.

Hermione had to fight a blush that was trying to make itself known. She thought of what her and Draco had done not so long ago on the couch and had the silliest notion that Ron somehow knew.

"Where is he?" Ron was practically shouting, "I know that you and Harry were doing things in here."

"What on earth are you talking about Ron? Harry went away tonight, you know that."

"I also know what I saw at the Great Hall, what's going on between you two? Are you secretly dating?"

Draco shot Hermione a look. He had no idea what Weasley saw in the Great Hall but he prayed to Salazar that Scarhead and Granger weren't dating.

"Again, what on earth are you talking about? What did you see in the Great Hall? Harry and I are not dating, there never has been and never will be any sort of romantic feelings between us." The last part was directed to Draco. She couldn't believe the look he was giving her. Especially after what had just transpired between them, the fact that he could think she would have something going on between both him and Harry was insulting to her.

"The two of you holding hands and that fact that you told him you loved him!"

"Honestly dealing with you in exasperating. I was comforting _my best friend._ And I believe I told him that WE love you not that I loved him, though I do because he is _my best friend._ And even if we were secretly dating, which we are not, how is that any of your business?!"

"I…it's my business because you're both my best friends!" Ron said and stormed out of the room.

"I'm sorry I honestly have no idea what that was about."

"You don't? Really 'cause it was quite obvious to me."

"What?" Hermione was so very confused from the whole encounter with Ron and now Malfoy speaking all cryptic.

"Weaslebee fancies you Granger." He said it with a sad smile.

"Oh come on now, he does not."

He looked at her, trying to decipher if she was just teasing him but she was completely serious. She didn't notice the way that Weasley looked at her. She didn't know that that had been a jealous rage he had been in, storming in expecting to find her with Potter.

He continued to look at her. Hoping she would understand that he was not joking. He wanted to see her reaction. Would she be pleased he fancied her? Throughout the years everyone talked about how they would be perfect for each other. Everyone thought that there had been feelings between the two of them. He watched as she clearly went through recent memories looking for any sign.

Hermione put her head in her hands as she realized Draco was right.

"Of course he would start to fancy me now, as soon as I realize that I don't really have feeling for him."

"You thought you had feelings for him?" A slight note of jealousy was detectable in Draco's voice.

"Yes I _thought_ I did, I realized, this year actually, that it was nothing more than a school girl crush."

Draco just nodded. He saw what time it was and cursed under his breath.

"Hermione, I need to go. If…if I never see you again I just want you to thank you. Thank you for challenging all my beliefs and proving them wrong. Thank you for... just thank you for everything."

Draco kissed Hermione on the cheek and walked through the door.


	12. Change

A/N: I won't make up excuses. But I am sorry about the wait. Next chapter is almost done so review and I will put it up faster!

I'm also working on my short story, which was supposed to be a 2 shot but maybe be a 3 depending on how it goes.

…please review :)

**I don't own Harry Potter.**

Draco walked at a brisk pace to the Room of Requirement. He needed to get there quickly but couldn't run for fear of drawing attention to himself. He was shaking, today was a day full of life changing things for him.

He was going to be responsible for a man's death, a man that is quiet possible the best wizard of all time.

He was going to let Death Eaters into Hogwarts. Draco Malfoy was personally handing the Dark Lord Hogwarts. With Dumbledore dead and Death Eaters roaming the halls there would be no question of who's in charge from now on. It was going to be a major shift in the war. It was a clear statement: I'm back and in charge.

Thirdly, Draco Malfoy realized today, he was in love. Before he had slept with Granger he had thought it was just the beginnings of love, now he knew better. A part of him wished that he didn't know. That he had remained ignorant. Star crossed lovers bullshit was for girls and muggle stories.

Fuck, fuck, fuuuucccckk.

He could feel the slight bit of sanity he had regained slipping from him as all the complications of what he was about to do came crashing down on him. He needed to rest for a minute he quickly went to the nearest toilet. One he had spent a lot of time in over the year, he usually had moaning Myertal as company when he was here but this one time he could really do without her.

The tears started to come and he ran over the sink retching up the small contents that was in his stomach. There wasn't much, he had hardly been able to eat all day and it was expelled from his stomach quickly. Next came the bitter taste and burn of stomach acid. It was foul and so much harder to come up than food. If only he had eaten more.

A hollow laugh echoed around him. He should have eaten more? As if that was his biggest problem at the moment. He tried to pull himself together, he just need to get to the Room of Requirement. He just needed to let the Death Eaters in. He just need to Dumbledore to die.

The tears started in earnest now. If only he could have had this breakdown earlier. When he had time for it, because that was the problem, he was out of time.

The door burst open and acting solely on instinct Draco shot a curse, he hadn't even seen who it was.

Harry swiftly deflected the curse and shot one back. There was no going back now. Once the first curse had been fired the boys were locked into a duel.

Hermione had stared at the door for a couple minutes after Draco had left. She didn't know how to process everything that had just happened between, for once the logic that she so relied on was elusive to her.

Shaking her head she tried to stop the confused thoughts. She had to focus. Death Eaters were going to be inside soon, that was the main priority.

_Harry. I have to find Harry._

Leaving the room she set off to find him, thinking Dumbledore's office would be her best bet at the moment. Maybe she should tell Dumbledore.

Again with her thoughts confusing her Hermione decided the most important thing was finding Harry after that she would have to improvise.

Rounding the corner it seemed that luck was on her side, she saw Harry run into the bathroom. It was as if a huge weight had been lifted. Now she knew where he was there was less anxiety turning in her stomach. She walked up to the door of the bathroom and waited, figure that Harry's reason for going in there was obvious.

Then she heard things starting to explode and listened closer. While listening she realized just which bathroom it was she was standing outside of, the girl's bathroom.

_Why in Merlin's name.._ before the thought was even finished she heard a loud crash from inside.

When she realized Harry was dueling someone she ran through the door, her wand at the ready, braced for anything. Or so she thought, no amount of preparation would ever be enough for what happened next.

She analyzed what was happening with a speed that can only be done when someone's adrenaline is humming through their veins.

She saw that she had been right in her assumption, Harry was dueling someone. She had not counted on the fact that that someone would be Draco. Or that she would not know what to do. She had to figure out how to defuse the situation without anyone getting hurt. She cared too much for both parties and seeing either hurt, even thinking about either of them being hurt, brought a pain to her chest.

Before Hermione could figure a solution out she saw Draco hit in the chest and go down. Without thinking of anything but him she ran over. Blood was quickly turning his white shirt red and Draco was unconscious. Hermione found it difficult to breathe.

Forgetting that Harry was in the room she started to unbutton his shirt, a shirt she had unbuttoned only an hour ago, her fingers were trembling like earlier only this was different. She could help but absently mark the difference between the times of undressing. The differences of the anxious feeling in her stomach, earlier it had been an excited anticipation of what would happen. Now it was dread and fear.

Seeing all the slashes cut into his chest made her breath hitch. She bunch up his shirt and tried to use it to apply pressure. She remembered that it was her best friend who did this and located where he was standing in the room.

His face was deathly pale and full of horror.

"What did you do?" Hermione asked her voice coming out sharper than she intended but she could not find it in herself to feel bad about it. Not with Draco's blood coating her fingers.

Harry didn't look away from the scene of blood and gore in front of him. Hermione didn't think he even heard her question. Not able to contain her emotions any longer she yelled.

"WHAT DID YOU DO HARRY? WHAT CURSE DID YOU USE?"

He snapped his head towards here, eyes widening at her tone and the emotion in her voice.

"I…I don't know. It was in the book. In the half blood prince's book."

"HOW COULD YOU? YOU USED A SPELL THAT YOU HAD NO IDEA WHAT IT DID ON SOMEONE?"

"I…I didn't think anything like this would happen."

Hermione turned back to look at Draco. "Go get help. Get help now!"

Harry seemed to snap out of his daze, nodded his head and went to run out of the room. He was about to reach the door when Snape burst through.

He took in the scene and ran over to where Hermione and Draco were on the ground. With a quick wave of his wand the wounds closed up.

There was so much blood, during the duel a sink had burst and there was water all on the floor. The floor was pink, so much blood, not even all the water could wash it away.

"I need to get him to the hospital wing, Potter you're going to come with me and we are going to go see the Headmaster. Granger I need you to go with Mr. Malfoy to the hospital wing, tell Madam Pomfrey that he needs a blood replenishing potion. I've used the counter curse but he has lost too much blood."

The four of them set off, running down the halls to the hospital wing. Snape told Harry to wait outside he ran in with Hermione on his heels, put Draco on one of the beds and ran out of the room.

Hermione ran to find Madam Pomfrey and told her all that Snape had said to. She hurried over to Draco's bedside with the medi-witch watching with panicked eyes all that was being done.

When Madam Pomfrey's actions were not as frantic Hermione thought it would be ok to ask the question that was pounding through her head.

"Will he be alright?"

The medi-witch looked up startled, not knowing that Hermione was still there. She would have thought the young woman would have run off after giving the instructions from Severus.

"He will be fine. He is lucky that Professor Snape got there when he did, if he hadn't there might have been a problem."

Hermione just nodded her head. When Madam Pomfrey walked away she took the chair next to Draco's bed and took one of his hands in both of hers.

Silent tears started streaming down her face as the image of him getting hit in the chest and falling to the ground and the blood, the blood all over his chest, the ground, her hands, everywhere played in her head like a broken record.

Draco opened his eyes and took in his surroundings. Without even moving his body he could tell that if he even attempted to move it would cause him excruciating pain. He could feel other sensations and looked to his left hand which was being held and stroked. Looking at Granger he could see tears streaming down her face, his chest filled with affection knowing she was crying for him. He squeezed her hand trying to convey without words what he was feeling in that moment.

Hermione gasped as she felt his fingers wrap and squeeze around her own. She looked up into his face and saw that his eyes were open and already on her own. She leapt out of her chair and hovered over him, his face was the only place she was sure she could touch and it wouldn't hurt him. She cupped her hand to his cheek.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been bloody hacked open." Draco said trying to move slightly but grimacing when he realized how bad it was.

"What are you doing?! Don't move, you've lost too much blood and were practically cut to your organs in more places than one."

Draco was about to reply when the march of footsteps distracted him. For a moment he panicked, thinking the Death Eaters had somehow gotten into the school without him and were about to kill Hermione and himself.

Hermione was looking around frantically when Snape and Professor Dumbledore walked up to Draco's bed.

"…something needs to be done. I felt my mark burn, it was time an hour ago."

Dumbledore took in the sight of Hermione by Draco's bed and the well-known twinkle came into his eye.

Snape who had not looked away from Dumbledore turned to see what had caused it and was surprised to say the least.

"Ms. Granger," Snape said, "I would have thought you would have left after giving Madam Pomfrey my instructions."

"I…well…," Hermione started to say but couldn't seem to form a sentence, she decided then to go with the truth, "I wanted to make sure that Dra-Malfoy was ok." She said cheeks turning red at her mistake.

If it was possibly Snape looked even more surprised, his eyebrows shooting up at Granger almost calling Draco by his first name.

"I see." Snap said, his tone clearly saying that he didn't.

"Now, now Severus," Dumbledore said, "I think this is a very interesting development."

Hermione's face got even redder, which she did not think was possible. It felt as though her face had a sunburn.

"Interesting, indeed." Snape said, "I assume you've informed Ms. Granger in on your…activities."

"I have not informed her of all my activities, no."

"Right then." Snape said looking away from Draco over to Hermione, "Ms. Granger, I am afraid you have to leave."

Hermione had no idea what was going on, what were Dumbledore and Snape doing here. And activities? Did Snape truly just ask if Draco had told her about him being a Death Eater? Why would he so blatantly say something like that in front of Dumbledore?

The world was not making sense and Hermione had the sinking suspicion that this was only the beginning.

Hermione simply nodded her head and made her way towards the door. She only glanced back once to look at Draco. He was staring right back at her, she was too far away to see exactly what his eyes held but there was some emotion there. She realized in that moment that she would probably spend the rest of her life wondering what he was thinking in that moment.

As soon as the doors slammed closed Draco looked back at the two men in front of him. One his mentor the other the man he was meant to kill. Right as Draco opened his mouth to say something Madam Pomfrey came over.

"I'm sorry Professors but I'm going to have to ask you to leave. Anything you need to speak to Mr. Malfoy can wait. He needs another blood replenishing potion and at least another hours rest."

Dumbledore simply nodded and walked out of the room while Snape stayed behind.

"This will only take a minute Poppy."

Madam Pomfrey gave Draco the potion then very loudly huffed to show her annoyance and walked away, giving the two a moment alone.

"I will send a letter. It will buy you some time but you must sneak out of here. I think that an hour and a half should be enough."

Snape walked away before Draco could even respond.

He could almost laugh about this. Of course almost dying does not excuse you from your duties to the Dark Lord. He hadn't even had the chance to think about the fact that he was late and then he is told that he only has bought himself a little bit of time.

And the truth was he was probably going to have to pay for the time he had just gotten. He wouldn't be surprised if the Dark Lord still killed him for being two and a half hours late.

Hermione had made it all the way back to her common room before she remembered why she had left it in the first place. She had to find Harry…again. She didn't know if Draco still had to do his mission but she was willing to bet that Voldemort was not the type to take the fact that Draco was hurt into consideration.

One of her biggest problems was that she didn't know if she would be able to face Harry at the moment. Using a curse that he did not know on someone was unthinkable. It didn't help that he had used it on Draco.

Another problem was that she could not tell Harry why she needed him outside of the common room. She couldn't tell him that there were going to be Death Eaters in the school. That would definitely insure Draco's death.

Casting a silencing charm around her, Hermione let out the loudest, longest scream that she could. Taking a deep breath she tried to gather her thoughts.

She had just had sex for the first time. She was pretty sure she was in love with Draco Malfoy, her former arch nemesis. Not to mention he was a Death Eater and about to commit an unspeakable crime again her home. And yet she could not find herself to hate him for it. She had gone mental, she was sure. As soon as this war was over she was going to check herself into St Mungo's. If she survived that is.

_UGHHHH FOCUS HERMIONE, now you're going on to issues that you don't need to be dealing with at this very pressing moment._

_Right, first things first. Death Eaters in the school. Have to protect the other students._

_Gryffindor Common Room. Harry._

She quickly set off before her mind began to unravel even more. Practically sprinting she made it to the fat lady. Catching her breath she said the password and walked through. Ron happened to be sitting on the couch and she went over to stand in front of him. Before she could even utter a word he looked up at her, looked very guilty and started speaking.

"I'm so sorry about earlier." He said quickly.

Hermione who had no idea what he was talking about looked confused, she tried racking her brain but could not think of what he was talking about.

"I shouldn't have just burst in like that with my temper raging."

It clicked in her head, she had completely forgotten about what had happened. She had gone through so much in the past two hours thatthe fight with Ron had left her mind completely. It was trivial in what they were about to face.

"Oh, don't worry about it Ron." She said distractedly.

Ron noticed she was confused but jumped at the chance to be forgiven. "Ok, but really I am sorry. If that's not why you came here then what do you need?"

"I was looking for Harry actually, and you." She amended quickly hoping he would not overreact like earlier.

"He's not here. Dumbledore called him down to his office, I don't know what about. They were together earlier so I thought it was strange he needed to see him again. Maybe there's been a break through with the you-know-whats."

"Right well maybe we should head over to Dumbledore's office, maybe we can catch him on the way out."

This worked out for Hermione to some extent that way if the Death Eaters did come at least the two of them would be able to help.

Ron and Hermione had just walked out of the portrait when they heard the screams. A quick glance between the two of them and they were off running in the direction it had come from.

They weren't quite at the stairs but they could see them and the sight was one of pure chaos. There were…1…5…7 Death Eaters on the stairs. Hermione caught a flash of blond hair and knew Draco was down there as well. Without thinking she started shooting off hexes at the Death Eaters. All the anger and every other emotion was powering her magic. She hated all of them. For what they were doing to her school, for what they thought about people like her having no right to exist, for what they were making Draco do even though she knew that deep down he didn't want to be doing it.

As hexes were raining down on the Draco was struggling to stay up right. His body was not able to do this. Hell his mind was in torment from what had just happened. He didn't know how he was able to move, the wounds of the physical kind were crippling him and the other wounds…from Granger and Dumbledore…well it was a miracle he could walk. Dumbledore…he was gone and Draco had watched it happen. He felt a slight bit of relief that he wasn't the one who had done it but that did not stop the disgust that rose up that he had sat there while the deed was done. It was over. There was nothing he could do about it now, he just had to make it to the apparition point, and hope that he wouldn't be killed as soon as he got back to the Manor. One hex came dangerously close to him and looked to the top of the stairs.

He was sure that it was Weasel that had tried to hit him, he didn't think that after all of this it would be Hermione. Not that he would blame her, she had more of a reason than anyone to hate him especially after today. He took once last glance to drink her in, in case he died, in case of whatever was going to happen next. Right as he was about to look away, she looked at him. Their eyes held for a moment.

"Draco!" Bellatrix yelled, "Although this has been fun we must be off."

With that, Draco ran out the doors without looking back.

Hermione watched as Draco ran out the door. She felt like a piece of her went with him, a piece that she didn't really understand and one that she did not have time to think about.

Ron and Hermione followed the Death Eaters outside but neither knew what they were about to see. Harry ran by them so quickly that it barely even registered that he had not stopped to look at what had them frozen in place.

Lying in front of them was the body of Albus Dumbledore. The beloved headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was dead.

The people of Hogwarts crowded around the body. Every one of them in shock and all instantly felt the sting of mourning come upon them. They knew without a doubt that this would change everything.


End file.
